The Keeper of the Light (Re-upload)
by RyuyaLana
Summary: After getting Teresa to finally talk, the box suddenly drops down and later to come back up with another surprise. A girl with long brown hair and brown eyes was found inside, with the only memory of her name and the boy in front of her, Newt. Like all the others, she had a tattoo etched on her skin "Subject WCKD1 - The Light" But who was she? How was she connected to Newt?
1. Another Girl

**Hey guys, i decided to re-upload this story here. I First published it here and in Wattpad but then eventually remove this one but kept Wattpad. So i hope you enjoy it!**

Thomas sighed "She's coming down, just don't surround her" Teresa slowly descended the ladder but stopped when she heard a noise "THE BOX!" Everyone started running for the box to see what was happening. "What happened?" Gally asked, pushing other gladers away.

"It suddenly went down!" chuck shouted. "But I thought the note said that she was the last one?" Thomas squinted down together with Newt, "I'll keep watch until it comes back up, everyone, go back and do your jobs... Thomas, you do THAT thing" Newt ordered everyone around, Thomas nodded and left with Teresa.

"Why would it go back down if she was the last one?" Gally circled the box, Newt sighed and furrowed his eyebrows, saying "I don't know, but I have a feeling that it's not over yet."

Gally nodded "Yeah, that's because it's shank's fault" he left to talk to the others before Newt could even reply. Newt sighed and lay on the grass "Let's hope for a bloody miracle that whatever is coming back up, is worth all this trouble." he mumbled before falling asleep under the setting sun.

A loud sudden noise caused Newt to sit up, he looked to where it was coming from. It was coming from the box, the box was coming back up. "GUYS! IT'S COMING BACK!" he instantly shouted, a couple of seconds later, he was completely surrounded by Gladers.

This time, the package had a blanket over it "What is it?" Gally opened the cage as Newt jumps in it. However, as soon as he jumped in, the figure moved. Causing Newt to step back as a girl with straight brown hair and brown eyes emerged from underneath the blanket.

Her brown eyes stared at Newt, he didn't move nor pay attention to the boys around him making noise, all he paid attention to was the girl in front of him. "... Newt?" His eyes went wide as she slowly stood up, but quickly losing her balance Newt caught her in time "Woah, careful greenie" she quietly thanked him.

"Newt, take her to Thomas and Teresa, they might know who she is and i'd like to have a word with you" Gally watched as Newt nodded and slowly helped the girl to the others, Newt's right arm was wrapped around her waist while her left arm slung around his shoulders for support.

"So Greenie, do you remember your name?" Newt tried to avoid looking at her but he couldn't, how could he not? Unlike Teresa, she was less hostile at the moment and he knew that she felt a connection towards him that he didn't know about.

"My name is Lana" her voice was like singing angels to his ears. "Lana, that's a beautiful name" the way he said her name was like magic. It sounded so right when he said it with his own mouth, "Well you already know who I am, but for formalities sake... I'm Newt"

She laughed like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Hello Newt, nice to meet you" they were walking slowly, Newt heard his name coming from her lips, and he swears, it was the most beautiful way anyone has ever spoken his name. She noticed his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh...", the reason why he had the facial expression was that he didn't know how to feel about the girl.

Newt laughed "No, please laugh, a little laughter could lighten things up here" they both smiled as they entered the room where everyone was. Thomas, Teresa, Jeff and Minho looked at the two with wide eyes. By this time, Teresa had already injected the vile into Alby, who was sound asleep.

Newt gently sat Lana down on a near by chair "Her name is Lana; Teresa, you and Lana should find chuck and ask him to show you around tomorrow. Before that, Minho will show you where you'll sleep for the night" he talked quick enough but everyone understood his orders perfectly, while Lana watched him in awe.

"Lana, this is Teresa, Thomas, Jeff, Minho and Alby" Newt gestured to the people in front of her "Nice to meet you" she said as she gave them a smile.

She looked at Teresa, who smiled and then back to Newt. "It's ok, she's new here... just like you, she remembers someone, which is Thomas." Teresa looks at her "You remember someone too? Who?" Lana looked up to the boy beside her "Newt" Everyone stares at him, Newt shoots up both of his hands "Don't look at me, I don't know anything"

Just in time, Gally comes through the door "Hey Shank, it's time... Newt, come with us" Newt looks at Lana who asks "Will you be long?" he smiles and pats her head "No, I'll just have a quick chat then I'll come look for you by your tent" Lana smiles and waves "See you later Newt" Newt nods and follows Thomas and Gally outside.

* * *

Lana's POV

I watched as Newt and Thomas leave with the boy from earlier. I didn't like the feeling of being separated from Newt, but why? I don't remember anything else except for my and his name, also this connection i have towards the blonde brit.

"It's ok, Newt will come back," Teresa looked at me softly "Actually, I'm glad you're here... I thought that I'd be the only girl here" I smiled at her "Thanks Teresa, so where are they going?"

The guy beside her, I think his name was Minho, spoke "He's going to lock up Thomas in the pit for a night without any food and I'm guessing Gally took Newt so that they could have another council meeting"

"Council meeting?" Teresa and I looks at Minho questionably

Minho nodded "Here in the Glade, we have our first in command, which is Alby" Alby was the dark skinned man unconscious on the table.

Jeff added "Newt is our second in command then our third in command is Gally"

No wonder Newt was giving out orders...

"Since Alby is temporarily injured, Newt is temporarily our leader" Minho crossed his arms and sighed "Come on, I'll show you where you'll sleep for the night"

Teresa and I followed Minho outside the hut, it was dark and the torches lit up the place. We passed the boys who were keeping their distance "Don't mind them," Jeff looked at us "They're just curious and afraid" I walked a regular pace to keep up with the others.

"Why are they afraid?" I asked, a little chubby boy with curly hair appeared and said "They're afraid of Teresa" I looked at her and saw Teresa smiling triumphantly "I threw some rocks at them from on top of the watch tower"

"That's so cool!" we both started laughing, "Wow, I haven't laughed since I got here... Thanks Lana"

"By the way, his name is Chuck, Chuck meet Lana" the boy smiled and nodded "I got informed by Newt, I'll give you the grand tour tomorrow at sunrise"

"Sound's lovely"

We arrived at a small hut to the side, a bit far from the main camp. "You two can sleep here tonight, this place was used to storage but since we built one closer to camp, we don't use this anymore" Minho led us inside, it wasn't too big but not too small. Just the right fit for two girls.

"No boys will come here at night, they'd have to pass through mine and Newt's camp before getting here, so you're both safe." he was about to leave when he said "I'll have Chuck, Jeff and Frypan bring you dinner and blankets"

"Thank you Minho" I smiled at him "Goodnight" Teresa said after sitting on a chair. "Goodnight ladies" he nodded and left us.

"About Thomas, you remembered him too?" I sat down on a chair next to hers.

"When I woke up, all I could remember was his and my name"

"That's the same as me!" we both smiled, she then frowned.

"Did you have anything with you?" I shook my head. "No"

Teresa pulled out a vile from her pocket "This was in my pocket when I got here"

I held the vile in my hand, the vile had an inscription on it "W.I.C.K.E.D" as I read the word, my head started to throb in pain. I held my head in my hand, I could see Teresa saying something but I couldn't hear her. The room started to spin, the pain was getting worse, and then all I could see was darkness and voices talking.

 _"Lana, do you remember? You must remember, Wicked is Good" who was talking? She sounds so familiar, why?_

 _"Everything I do, is for you're sake" My sake? What are you talking about?_

 _"I'm right here, you won't lose me"_ This is a boy's voice... Newt?

I slowly open my eyes, the light of a candle shining brightly in the room, I felt something holding my hand. I looked to my right and saw a blonde haired boy, leaning back on a chair with his hand in mine.

"He didn't want to leave till you woke up" I jumped at the sound of Teresa's voice coming from the door, "You feeling any better?" she quietly asked. I nod "Yeah, what happened?"

"After you read the name of the vile, you fainted... Did you see something or remember anything?" Teresa sat on the edge of the table, giving me a reassuring smile. "I didn't see anything," I looked at Newt, who was still sound asleep then back to Teresa "But I heard voices, a woman's voice and a boy's voice"

"A woman? What did she say?" Teresa knew something, I could see it in her eyes, she just needed reassurance. "To remember that Wicked is good" she nodded "Thomas and I had the same vision where a woman with blonde hair, she kept on saying Wicked is good"

I slowly sat up, not removing my hand from Newt's. "What does it mean?" I whispered, Teresa shook her head "Whatever it means, Thomas took it upon himself to inject this into Alby, he resisted so I had to do it"

I nodded, trying to remember any other details. "You mentioned something about a boy's voice?" I snapped back to reality and looked at Teresa "Yeah, he said 'I'm right here, you won't lose me'"

"Do you know who it was?" I bit my lip and blushed "He sounded like..." my eyes wandered to the boy next to me, I could see Teresa's eyes widen "Are you sure?"

"Positive"

"I need to tell Thomas, you have to tell Newt"

"Not tonight, I'll tell him tomorrow"

"Hmm, tell me what love?" I saw Newt squinting his eyes and yawning, the slur in his voice was audible. "Thank you for staying with me" He was half awake and grinned "Of course, didn't want our greenie to faint and not have anyone beside her when she woke up"

"Hey I have a name you know" I squeezed his hand "I know love, it's just fun" he squeezed back. "Ahem, if you two are done flirting, I'll be asleep in my side now thank you"

Teresa announced, making Newt and I separate. Wait. Flirting? was I flirting with Newt? I just met him a few hours ago didn't I? I looked at his brown eyes, he looked back at mine. "Are you alright now?" I nodded "That's great, I have to go now... I'll be back in a moment" he whispered before leaving the hut. Wow.

 **Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic.**

 **I posted the same story in another website called**

 **Next chapter:**

 **"The Light"**

 **As soon as I lift my top to take a dip in the water with Teresa, she notices the mark etched on my shoulder blade "Subject WCKD1 - The Light" I noticed hers "Subject A1 - the betrayer"**


	2. The Light

**Hey guys! Here's the second chapter, all in all (in wattpad) there are currently 13 chapters and ill be posting them here.**

 _~The Light~_

I stood up and saw two hammocks ready, Teresa was already in one. I slowly got on the other one and swayed, I couldn't sleep, not anymore at least. Newt said that he was coming back, isn't that against the rule of 'No boys'?

"We're not safe here" Teresa spoke aloud, still swaying in her own hammock. I looked at her, titling my head ever so slightly "What are you talking about?"

Teresa sat up from her hammock to face me, her eyes in deep thought, "There's a reason why you're here. Mine was because Thomas killed a Griever, you appeared for a reason... Things are moving because of us and the others don't like it, maybe even Newt"

"But Newt never said-"

"No, he didn't. But that doesn't mean that that's not what they're thinking, especially Gally."

Teresa sighed "I'm sorry, you just got here, you're my only girl-friend here. I don't want you to get hurt because of them and because of an unknown reason to why were even here"

I nodded, "I understand" I perfectly do, we're a threat to the others, they'll want to get rid of us. Even Newt.

Knock Knock, someone was at the door. Teresa and I looked at each other suspiciously, she motioned me to stay back as she grabbed a stick and opened the door. Behind it was Newt with a torch.

"Bloody Hell, what do you think you're going to accomplish by hitting me with a stick?" he grinned and saw me behind Teresa, and who was also holding a stick.

"Sorry, I forgot that you were coming back" I sighed as my muscles relaxed and Teresa took both of our sticks and placed it at a corner. Newt smiled "I'm hurt," clearly he wasn't "Come on, follow me"

Again, Teresa and I looked at each other, which has been happening a lot since I got here, and we both followed Newt outside of the hut.

It was dark, only a few torches were lit and there was no one in sight. "It's lights out" Newt clarified. "Where are we going?" Teresa asked as Newt led the way.

"You'll see" was all he said.

We were approaching, what seemed like a wall. "I thought we weren't allowed here?" Theresa asked. "We're not entering," Newt turned to the side of the wall and illuminated the wall with his torch, "Carve your name here, from now on, you're one of us. A Glader"

"Here in the Glade, we have our rules. Break them, you get punished." Newt hands Teresa a knife, she nods and carves her name beside Thomas'. I looked at the other names, those that have been crossed out. I'm guessing that they're 'gone' for good.

"Come on Greenie, no time to gawk at other people's names, your turn" I turned to Newt, who was giving me a knife with a grin on his face, "Newt, what is this place? Being a part of the Glade, what exactly do we do?"

"Here in the Glade... we're one big family, we look after each other. Being a part of the Glade means to be a family member" the stern look in his eyes show how much he means every single word of it.

"Alright, a little vague from what I'm really asking but ok" he chuckled "That's how Alby would answer" Teresa smiled "I'm going to check on Thomas, see you two later" she left us.

I grabbed the knife and started carving my name near Newt's. "Do you remember anything Newt? From before you got here?" Newt leaned on the wall with the torch still in hand "No, I'd remember everything that's happened till now, but before this? No"

I absently nodded, maybe Newt wasn't the boy, maybe it was someone else. "Do you remember?" he asked, "I remember you're name and this connection that I have with you, I just can't put my finger on it but I know it's there" I finished carving my name on the stone wall and looked at him.

Newt stared back at me, "I know you probably don't feel anything, but I strongly feel it and I want to know what IT is"

He smiled "That's good motivation, come on, you need sleep."

Im curious... "Why are their names crossed out?" Newt answered bluntly "They're gone, either by sickness or something else"

"Something else?" A loud noise caused me to jump, Newt looked up and said "Hear that? It's the Maze, it changes every night. The Runners, led by Minho, go in the Maze and search for a way out. No one survives a night in the maze"

"Why? It's just the walls changing" He shook his head, followed by the horrid sound of something screeching behind the wall "That was a Griever, they kill whoever is in the maze, no one's ever seen one and lived to tell about it... but recently Thomas killed one"

"And that's why Teresa is here... Sorry, she told me what happened when she came here" I frowned and looked at the wall, a lot of them died here.

"They're finally resting, they're free, don't worry about it," Newt started walking "Let's head back"

We started walking back to the hut, I noticed his leg. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" he slowed down and saw me staring at his leg "Oh... I'm limp" "Did you fall from somewhere?"

"Something like that" Newt's expresion hardened

"Did it hurt?" he chuckled "A bloody lot, I almost died"

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

Newt's POV

I was taken aback, she was sorry? "Why are you sorry?" Lana stopped walking and furrowed her eyebrows "I... I don't know, I just said it" she looked at me, I noticed that her eyes were tearing up.

"Hey... Hey, It's alright, this happened years ago... Don't cry" I wrapped my arms around her, rubbing circles on her back. "I- Why am I crying? Newt, I'm so so sorry!"

It was obvious that she was confused of her own actions and words, why was she sorry? Why am I desperately tying to comfort a girl I met a few hours ago? "Lana, please don't cry... It's not your fault, don't blame yourself for my jacked slinthead decision"

She nods, I rest my head on top of hers "But you could have died" i heard her mumble against my shirt, i sighed "But I didn't, now we need to get you to bed greenie" I unwrapped myself from her and took her hand.

"So you won't trip Greenie" Lana smiled "Sure thing lizard"

"Hey!" I tugged her hand a little as she laughed

"You started it"

We reached their hut, Teresa wasn't back yet so I sat down on her hammock beside Lana's. "You should rest Lana, tomorrow's going to be a tiring day" "Thank you Newt" her voice retired to a deep sleep.

I remembered what happened a few moments ago, After leaving her to go with Gally a while ago, I couldn't help get the feeling of wanting to watch over her. During the council meeting, even though it was only Gally and I, Chuck came in and was shouting that Lana suddenly collapsed and that Teresa was panicking like crazy.

I ran over in a hurry with Chuck into the hut and saw Frypan frantically going in and out to get Jeff's medical gear with Winston following behind, while Jeff and Teresa surrounded Lana, who was unconscious on the table.

Jeff said that something caused her to gain too much stress since her body tensed up and probably had to do something with her memories or the shock of being here. Teresa held the vile in her hand, as soon as she saw me, she tried to explain what happened.

After she composed herself again, Teresa frowned and said that she needed to talk to Thomas but didn't want to leave Lana. I volunteered to stay with her, Frypan, Winston and Jeff left and Teresa needed someone to talk to, and we both knew that it wasn't me.

She left Lana and I alone, I sat on the chair next to her. She started clenching her fist, over and over again, her nails digging into her own skin. "Lana, shhh... It's ok, I'm right here" I grabbed her hand in mine, she visibly relaxed.

"Ahem" I tore myself from memory lane, looked up and saw Teresa "Sorry, I'll leave now" I stood up from the hammock, looked over at the sleeping girl and walked towards the door where Teresa was.

"Newt, even if you are Thomas' and Lana's friend, hurt any of them, I'll kill you" Teresa threatened. Hurt? Why would I hurt any of the two?

"I would never dream of it" was all I said before leaving the hut.

* * *

The next morning, Chuck toured Lana around. Teresa already knew the rules and parts of the Glade because of her conversation with Thomas yesterday, so she went with Jeff to look after Alby.

"Where are they going?" They saw Thomas together with Minho and others, run towards the gates. "They're going into the Maze, Newt made Thomas a runner yesterday before you came, he's now doing his part in the Glade"

"Then what can I do? Teresa is already helping Jeff, who can I help?"

"Well Greenie, you could help me if you want" Lana looked behind her and saw Newt, leaning on a garden shovel. "What do you do?"

"Well, I'm the Keeper of the grounds, I make sure that everyone is doing their part, make sure that everything is in order and the ground is in perfectly good shape"

He grinned and gave her a bucket, "Come on, help me get water from the Lake" Lana smiled "Lake? There's a Lake here?!" Newt grinned "Where the bloody hell do you think we get our water from or bathe for that matter, Follow me Greenie"

Chuck nodded "I'm going back to work, don't do anything to her Newt" the boy winked at the keeper of the grounds when Lana wasn't looking. "What are you talking about Chuck?!" The two laughed and went their separate ways.

Newt and Lana walked towards the forest, "It's deep in the forest, bath time for the men will be at sun down, for you and Teresa, it will be at night when the boys are asleep"

He grumbled "Wouldn't want any of the boys peeking at you bathing... Don't worry, Thomas and I will keep watch"

"What?!" Lana blushed, the idea of Newt seeing her naked was... embarrasing. "Hahaha! Calm down Lana, I meant that we'll keep guard at the camp to make sure that no one will leave"

"I-I knew that!" She quickly went ahead of Newt, but tripped over a root. "Woah!" Before she hit the ground, Lana felt an arm around her waist "That was a close one Greenie" he breathe near her ear. "Thank you"

"You're clumsy Greenie, good thing I was here" he was still holdiing onto her even though she was standing up right. "Yeah, good thing you're here" Lana looked up and him, surprisingly, he was already looking at her. "Um... We should get to the lake"

Newt spoke quickly before letting go of her waist and going ahead.

They arrived at the Lake, because of the trees, it was hidden away from everyone. "It's beautiful" Lana sat down and stared at it, the sun shining on it's surface, the way the trees surrounded it like it was a secret haven.

"When Alby gave me the role of Keeper of the grounds, I explored every inch of the glade and found this," Newt sat beside her but kept his distance. "I wish everything would just stop and stay like this" Lana mumbled before closing her eyes.

"Living this moment is just a part of our life, seeing it is a part of the adventure, experiencing this and all of our troubles is a part of the journey, urging us to keep living for greater things in the future"

Newt knew what he said was true, but a part of him wanted to close his eyes and stay with her in dreamland. But he knew, in this place, it would never happen.

He stood up, refusing to give in to his fantasy, no. He was the leader of the Gladers now, no distractions.

"I'm going to get some water and go ahead, you can relax here if you want" Newt grabbed the two buckets and filled them with water, Lana's eyes were already open and watched him work from her seat.

She noticed how focused he was, and yet there she was, daydreaming. How is that called helping? Lana got up and filled her own bucket with water "No time for relaxing, I need to do my part if I want to stay here"

Newt stared at her, she was determined to not be a nuisance to him as he was to becoming the leader of the Glade.

The two headed back to the field, just in time to see Thomas and the others get back. "They're back early" Newt looked at them as they passed by. Minho stopped and said "We found something, it was inside the Griever"

He gave Newt the tube-like thing with the number 7 on it. "What is it?" Minho shrugs "I don't know but I'd like to show Thomas THAT place"

Lana looked at Newt, she could see him thinking about it very seriously before giving a solid nod "Good that, be sure to tell me everything after" "On it" Minho nodded at Lana and Newt before leaving them to talk to Thomas.

"That place?" She couldn't help but be curious "It's nothing, it's information that only The runners need to know" Lana nodded, of course it was. She wasn't a runner, she was new, a Greenie. I need to know my place, she scolded herself.

"It's nice to be curious now and then Greenie, don't need to beat yourself around the bush" Newt walked towards the field before saying anything that he'd regret. "Let's get to work"

The sun was starting to set when Lana and Teresa saw each other again "How was the day under the sun?" Teresa teased. "Not as good as being Jeff's assistant, that's for sure" the two laughed.

"The boys are taking their baths right now, some are still here keeping watch" Lana looked around and saw Minho together with Thomas and Newt, discussing something.

"Want to help them?"  
"I don't want to be a nuisance" Lana frowned  
Theresa nodded "That's true, Let's just keep a low profile then"  
"Good that"

The two waited till the boys were back at the camp before looking for Newt, "Alright ladies, Minho, Thomas, Gally and I will be at the camp to make sure that none of the guys look at you... But make it quick" Newt told the two.

Thomas laughed "Yeah since you're surrounded by boys"

Minho shook his head while Gally just glared at Thomas. Newt was the only sane one.

Teresa and Lana nodded and headed for the Lake, "It's beautiful" Teresa was in awe, Lana already knew the beauty of the Lake, but at night under the stars and torches was breathtaking.

"We have to make this quick or Newt and the others are gonna throw a fit" Lana tied her hair in a pony tail and removed her white loose shirt and her green tank top together with the rest of her clothing. Like Lana, Teresa removed her clothes but tied her hair in a messy bun.

* * *

Lana's POV

As soon as I lift my top to take a dip in the water with Teresa, she notices the tattoo etched on my shoulder blade "Subject WCKD1 - The Light"

"Subject WCKD? The Light?" Teresa grabbed my shoulder to inspect it closer, "Lana, where did you get this?"

"I don't know... You don't have one, do you?" Teresa inspected her body, turning from her place.

I noticed at the back of her neck "Group A. Subject A1 - the betrayer"

"Subject A1... The betrayer?" I stared at her with wide eyes "What does this mean Teresa? Why am I the Light? Why are you the Betrayer?!"

Teresa hugged me "I don't know, but whatever happens, you're my friend" I gave her a nod and said "Whoever placed us here, knows why we are called that and why things are happening the way they are"

"We need to get out of here Teresa, It's the only way"

 **Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic.**

 **If you were wondering, yes I did post this at my page, you can find the story there if you want to. My account name is (Ryuya Lana), the story title is still "The Keeper of the Light"**

 **GLADER SLANG:**

 **Jacked - describing a person who is messed up in the head**

 **Slinthead - derogatory term used mostly by others when one makes a mistake that involves repercussions.**

 **Good That - a person agrees with someone's decision**

 _Next time:_

 _"The Gates"_

 _Alby started crying, Thomas and the others were too shocked to speak. Alby looked at me, his expression was changing from anger to sadness, "What are you doing here Lana? That woman would never put you in here" with that said, someone shouted "THE GATES AREN'T CLOSING!"_


	3. The Gates

_~The Gates~_

"We need to get out of here Teresa, It's the only way" "What do you mean it's the only way?" Teresa turned away from Lana to wash herself, It's the only way? Why did I say that? She thought to herself.

"I... I don't know, something just doesn't feel... right" The next thing Teresa knew was that Lana had stopped talking and the sound of a weak splash came.

"Lana? What's wrong?" She turned her head to look at the brunette. She saw Lana's body, face down to the water, with her body floating effortlessly.

"Lana?! LANA!" Teresa lifted Lana's unconscious body from the water, her face right side up, before the girl drowned, but she wasn't strong enough to carry her out of the water. "HELP! THOMAS! NEWT! SOMEBODY, HELP!"

After shouting her lungs out, she heard someone coming towards them, Gally appeared with panic written all over his face "What happened?" he hiked up his pants and dipped into the water, Teresa remembered that she was naked, so she hugged herself.~

"She collapsed, she was talking about something, I turned around, she became silent and then that happened" Gally nodded and looked at the girl in front of him and slowly placed her on the grass, it didn't help the fact that she was naked when he realized that he needed to carry her back to camp.

Gally blushes but quickly tossed his emotions to the side.

"Uh, Teresa... Can you dress first and help me with Lana here?" Gally turned his head, looking away from the two.

"Right, Sure" when Teresa noticed that Gally had turned his back, she quickly dressed herself as fast as she could. "I'm done," Teresa knelt down beside Lana "I'm going to dress her now"

Teresa managed to put on Lana's undergarments and tank top on, but she had a hard time with the pants. "Gally, could you help me?"

The boy slightly turned and noticed her struggle "Alright" Teresa lifted Lana's legs while Gally pushed up Lana's pants.

The sound of bushes rustling caused Teresa to let go of Lana, leaving Gally, who was only half way to putting Lana's pants on, when Newt, Thomas and Minho came to view.

"We heard the screaming what happe-" Thomas was immedietly cut off by the sight of Newt throwing a punch at Gally in the jaw.

Minho grabbed Newt from behind and pinned him down "GALLY! DON'T YOU BLOODY DARE TOUCH HER!" he shouted. Gally immediately stood up and held his jaw. "I was trying to help"

"He's telling the truth!" Teresa stood up beside Thomas, "Lana was talking about something and she suddenly lost consciousness, I screamed, Gally came to help. He saved her from drowning and was helping me put on her pants"

She looked at Newt, who was still pinned down to the ground, with wide eyes.

"Gally, I-I'm sor-"

"Slim it, Hope she wakes up soon" Gally left the five, and back to the camp he went.

Minho stood up and shook his head "What's wrong Newt? You're never this flustered, what changed?" Newt stared at him, what changed? What did change? He never shouted at anyone with a hot head before, especially Gally... So what changed?

"Thomas, bring Teresa back to the hut... Minho, check on the other boys, wouldn't want them causing a ruckus after hearing Teresa scream"

"What about you?" Thomas asked as Newt slowly dressed the unconscious girl up.

"I'll bring her to the hut" Everyone nodded, leaving Newt alone with Lana.

After she was fully dressed, Newt sighed, sat down on the grass and held his head between his hands, his eyes squeezed shut, his breathing slowly increased by the second. "Get a Hold of yourself Newt" he told himself over and over, it was just like THAT time, the time he got his limp.

"... Newt..." he looked at the girl beside him, her hair damp from the water, her half lidded eyes and a small smile on her face. "Thank God, you're awake!"

Newt said aloud, he noticed the confusion in her face as soon as he spoke. "I blacked out again didn't I?"

"Remember, what you do here saves his life, escape and I will kill him" Kill who?

I opened my eyes, the starry sky shone bright, the sound of someone breathing beside me made me turn my head. It was Newt, he was there, "... Newt..." I was surprised by how my voice was so soft, but I managed to smile at him, he who was always by my side when I needed him.

"Thank God, you're awake!" he spoke aloud. I felt wet, I remembered that I was in the water with Teresa, I looked at him with I'm guessing a confused expression and said "I blacked out again didn't I?"

Newt helped me sit up, my hair was damp from the water but my clothes were on except for my loose shirt, which was on the grassy floor. I looked around "Where's Teresa?" he buried his face in his hands "With Thomas back at the hut, when you fainted, she started screaming for help"

"And you saved me?"

He shook his head "... Gally did, he was the first to arrive then followed by Thomas, Minho and I," he looked up at me "He and Teresa dressed you up, I-I made a mistake of punching him in the face"

He punched Gally? "What?! Why!?" Newt looked away "I thought... I thought he was the reason why Theresa was screaming for help,"

He looked back at me with anger in his eyes "I thought he was going to... touch you, so I went and punched him" his hands shook, his brows furrowed in both anger and confusion. I frowned at the sight of him hurting, hurting himself from within.

"Hey, It's ok... Everything's going to be ok, you were protecting me" I gently wrapped my arms around his shaking figure. Rubbing my hands on his back as I whispered sweet words to him.

When Newt finally calmed down, he looked at me "I have to talk to Gally, I need to apologize for my actions" I nodded "Good that, I'll say my thanks after you talk to him"

"Can you stand?" He stood up and offered a hand, I smiled and accepted it "Thanks, now go talk to Gally, I need to see Teresa" Newt nodded as we walked our separate ways.

I briskly walked back to our hut and saw Teresa on her hammock, holding the WICKED vile. "Lana! Are you alright?" I nodded and hugged her, I sat on my hammock and frowned, she immediately knew something was wrong.

"More voices?" she asked, looking at me with a serious gaze.

"Yeah... but just the woman's voice"

"What did she say?" I swallowed, hard.

"What I do there saves his life, escape and she will kill him"

Teresa raised a brow "Kill who?" I shrugged "I don't know, I just have a feeling that something's about to happen..."

"You were saying something, you know... Before you collapsed," she started swaying "Something about getting out of here"

I frowned, there I was again, unconsciously talking about things I don't even understand. "I don't know, I'm sorry. I've been blurting out sentences without thinking."

"So it's happened before?" I nodded "When Newt told me how he got his limp, I cried and kept on saying sorry... and now I just told you that we needed to leave this place"

Teresa sat up and said "Maybe those were you're past self's words! Maybe, deep in your subconscious, the memories buried deep in your heart are trying to tell you something, like Thomas and I's visions!"

"You mean... My heart is trying to warn me about something?" She nodded

"Yes, and the question is, are you going to listen to it?"

I was walking out in the fields, Teresa's words repeating in my head. Can I trust my heart? Should I listen to it? "Newt should be done talking to Gally by now, I wonder where I can find him..."

I heard someone talking to himself from on top of the watch tower. "Are you alright up there?" I instinctively asked, Gally's head looked down at me, "Can I come up? I wanna talk."

He stared at me for awhile before nodding. I climbed up and saw him sitting on the edge of the tower, his font leaning on the wooden bar, which was blocking him from falling down.

I sat beside him, slipping my legs onto the edge, copying his position, but not intentionally. "I just wanted to say Thank you... and that I'm sorry that Newt punched you"

"I know, he apologized earlier, he really isn't the type to lose his cool..." Gally shook his head slightly. Wanting to deny what was happening to their second in command.

"He thought that you were going to, um, touch me" He looked at me, his eyes wide in shock, "Touch you? Don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't touch you unless you wanted me to,"

He then added "I won't disobey Alby or Newt's orders as long as we're in the glade"

I smiled "Yeah, you do seem like the rule enforcer in the glade" Gally smiled "I just want everyone to live in here peacefully by following Alby's rules."

"Is that why you don't like Thomas?" He nodded "The shank broke most of the rules already and Newt still left him off the hook!"

No, stop. Don't get mad at Newt, please. "Newt did do something, he made Thomas stay in the pit and made him a runner, so that he wouldn't break anymore rules!"

"So you're on their side?" Gally looked at me square in the face, There were sides? I thought everyone in the glade were equals?

"I'm on nobody's side, I only want what's best for the Gladers."

And what's best is to get out of here. But I can't say that out loud or Gally will turn against me, I'll need everyone's help, if possible, even Gally's.

Gally chuckled "Good answer Greenie, anyway, how's your head?"

"It's fine, just got a little light headed, is all" he nodded "That's good, you need rest. If you ever need to talk again, you know where to find me."

Gally stood up and headed for the ladder "Goodnight Lana" he said softly, "Goodnight Gally" I said back as he climbed down and headed for his camp.

I sighed, This is not going to be easy.

I ran up to the camp and there he was, the blonde brit was talking to Frypan, probably to ask what was for breakfast the following day. "Newt!" I called out, he immediately turned his head to my direction and sprinted towards me.

"What's wrong? Did you talk to Gally yet?" Newt asked, slightly out of breathe.

"Yes, I did... But we need to talk, just the two of us" Newt thought for a moment, "Alright, follow me"

It took them a moment before reaching the council meeting room. "What do you want to talk about?" Newt leaned on a pillar, the torches in the room were lit, Lana could see his face from where she sat.

"Newt, did you ever find a way out of the Maze?" Newt's facial expression didn't change, he simply stated "If I did, why the bloody hell would we still be in this hell hole?"

She searched his face for answers, no. There were absolutely no way for her to read his current expression. "Are you positive? What if, you missed a spot or a route?"

Newt shook his head "Minho never missed anything"

"But it's been three years, surely someone must have reached the end."

"Exactly, We did reach the bloody end!" Newt's eyes widened, he slipped. He can't have his way with this girl now can he?

Newt sighed and sat down beside her. "Minho searched every inch of the Maze, there is no way out, Lana"

She could see it in his eyes, there really was no way out. They were trapped there, forever. Lana's eyes dropped, her head buried in her hands, "Something's going to happen Newt, I can feel it. Thomas and Teresa can feel it too, this connection that I have towards you is one of it"

Newt instinctively wrapped his hands around her, "Newt, we need to get out of here...," She looked up, her determined look shocked him "let me go in the maze tomorrow, I know I can find something!"

"Bloody hell Lana! No! I will never let you go out there!" Newt's grip around her tightened. "But Newt, I can help!"

"No! You can hate me all you want, I won't let you go out there. It's an order!"

"I understand"

"Do you really? Can I trust you?" "Yes" He stood up and left the brunette, who had her face buried in the palms of her hands and her heart throbbing and aching.

But she knew what she had to do. "I'm so sorry Newt."

Morning came, Lana awoke just in time to see Minho and Thomas sprint for the gates. Silently as possible, Lana managed to go closer to the gate.

Before she could enter, someone grabbed her wrist. "Lana, what the bloody hell did I say last night!?"

She looked at him, his expressions were obvious; Anger and Sadness. "Newt, I'm so sorry but I-"

"No!" by this time, the Gladers were already awake and heard the commotion. Most of the Gladers were there, listening to the two fight.

"I thought I could trust you... I guess I was wrong. Get out of my sight, I'll put you in the pit tonight without supper" Lana's heart was crushed, she really did it, she lost his trust. his fate in her was now shattered like her heart.

Tears slowly formed in her deep drown eyes, threatening to fall down, she needed to get away before he could see her crying.

"F-Fine. I'm sorry, I'll be at the Builder's camp with Gally. Call me when it's time" Lana spoke quickly and without emotion, she pushed Newt and ran for wherever her feet could bring her. Her tears finally free to fall and her whimpers finally audible.

Her feet brought her to the one place she never thought of going, the Lake. "I thought I was mad at him, why am I here?"

Lana's knees gave out, her hands hugged her frame, her cries were now much more audible and her breathing worsened. Her chest rapidly ascending and descending as she tried to breathe.

Why was she crying so hard? Is Newt's trust really that important to her? She kept asking herself, but she knew that his words hurt her badly.

"I need to get a grip." she firmly told herself, with one last tear, she stood up and walked to the Builders camp where Gally was.

"There you are, how are you feeling?" Lana saw Gally walking up to her, "Not good Gally... not good"

He chuckled "From the look on your face? I can tell." Lana had red eyes and a red nose to match.

"Mean, really mean Gally" she shook her head and headed back to the builders camp with him. "Seriously Greenie, I was surprised when you said that you'd go to our camp,"

Gally pointed to a group of boys by a pile of wood "Even my boys were shocked, I'll introduce them to you, c'mon"

The rest of the day went by smoothly, Lana didn't see Newt or Teresa once. Gally said that Newt told Teresa not to speak with her till the following day, which made Lana feel alone.

But the boys from the builders camp welcomed Lana with open arms, they taught her how to tie different types of knots, how to make her very own spear, which she did pretty nicely, and they gave her surviving tips.

Gally approached Lana "Can we talk?" She gave a nod and left the other boys to do their own work. "What is it?"

"I've been meaning to ask, but... uh, when I helped you last night, I saw a tattoo," Gally paused "I didn't look at your chest or anything! What I'm trying to say is, who are you? Why are you Subject WCKD, the Light?"

Lana understood his questions, but unfortunately, she didn't have the answers. She frowned "I'm sorry, but I don't know either, Gally"

He nodded, of course, her memories were gone. Just like his and the rest of the Gladers, empty carcasses tossed into a maze with monsters and no way out.

"Just wanted to make sure, Want to join me on my patrol? I'm scheduled near the gate today" Lana nodded and followed the blonde. By this time, Lana knew, she knew that Gally was a good guy. Just misunderstood, she nodded to herself, she wanted Gally to be her friend.

It was almost sunset when she saw Thomas and Minho come back. Teresa came out of Jeff's hut and ran towards Thomas, shouting "Alby's awake!"

Gally nudged Lana, she knew what he was trying to tell her, so she ran towards the medical hut where Alby and the rest were.

She opened the door and went in, she stayed behind the crowd as Thomas knelt beside him. "We can't get out," Alby said "They won't let us,"

Alby started crying, Thomas and the others were too shocked to speak. Alby looked up, his eyes scanned the room and landed on the brunette's, his expression was changing from anger to sadness, "Lana, is that you?," Everyone turned and saw Lana behind them.

"What are you doing here? That woman would never put you in here" with that said, someone shouted "THE GATES AREN'T CLOSING!"

"What?!" Everyone left the room except Alby, who was still crying his heart out. Lana looked at the gate "No, why won't this close? it's passed sunset already!"

A sound caused all the Gladers to turn in their place, the sound of the other gates opening around the Glade, and the sound of screeching grievers, making their way to the Glade.

Lana could see Newt across her, his expression had signs of courage yet had a slight bit of fear, their eyes met for a short second before he looked away and started giving out orders.

"Lana, help me and the boys with the spears" Gally shouted; Newt didn't order anything for her to do, Lana wanted to help, and going with Gally meant helping the Gladers. Something which she thought of as 'Doing her part in the glade.'

* * *

 **Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic.**

 _Next time:_

 _"Kill him"_

 _I ran, passed the panicking gladers, the horrible grievers and all the chaos in the glade. My eyes scanned the area, looking for one person in particular, my heart couldn't take anymore, the voice in my head repeated the words "I will kill him" over and over again. Where are you, Newt?_


	4. Kill him

_~Kill him~_

 _They looked at the screen, "There he is, what should we do with him?" She looked at each person in the eye before answering "Kill him, but don't harm her"_

Gally and Lana made their way to the weapon room, a red blinking light caught Lana's eye as she sprinted. It buzzed and flew so quickly that she didn't have time to look at it properly. "What should we bring?" she asked him "Everything" he answered just as Minho came in.

"Newt went to talk to Alby, they want you to take charge of the builders and build barricades to block the grievers," Minho points to Lana and said "He also said that Lana should help me here."

Gally shook his head "A barricade? You must be out of your mind if you think that could block a griever!" Lana placed a hand on his shoulder with a reassuring smile on her face "It's alright Gally, go and help the others. Minho and I can do the rest." He stared at her for a couple of seconds before nodding "Alright, but be careful." and left the room.

Minho stood in awe, "How'd you do that Greenie?" Lana tilted her head "Do what?" He pointed to the door with a silly smile on his face "You calmed Gally down and told him what to do with just a touch!" Lana started grabbing the spears, with a laugh saying "That's pretty normal to me."

"Well not to me, where have you been for the past two years? We could have used you around the first week here, or so," Minho chuckled and patted her back "Drop those first Greenie, Newt gave us an assignment," she placed down the spears and waited for him to explain. "He wants us to go to the map room and hide all the maps in a special room."

"Why?"  
"Alby warned Newt to keep the maps safe, Newt thought it was best if you and I hide these bad boys somewhere safe"  
"Where are the maps anyway?"  
"The place where only runners could enter, the map room."

The two left the weapons room and sprinted towards the Map room, it was hidden, surrounded by trees and bushes. If not for Minho, Lana wouldn't have spotten it. "I'm not a runner, I can't enter..."

"Newt gave you a special mission, that means he permits you to go in and help me" Minho was already half way through the door when he spoke. Lana went in and awed in amazement, "It's... so cool"

Minho laughed "You got that right, now, help me with this..." Lana and Minho grabbed all the paper, pen and sketched out maps that they could carry on the table, the two struggling with how much paper fell out of their grasps each time they moved.

"Why would he give me such an important mission? I thought he was... mad at me" Minho looked at the brunette, "I don't think that was the case Greenie" "Huh?"

"According to Zart, you know... the keeper of the gardens. He said that Newt was cursing to himself the entire time you were gone and that he was always looking at the Builders camp whenever he had the time. He wasn't paying attention to the others." Newt wasn't concentrating? That's new.

"Doesn't sound like something Newt would do." She half heartedly laughed and frowned "I want to talk to him." "I know you do, but right now, we have a bigger mission to do."

After transporting the maps in one of the secret rooms within the council house, or homestead, as they called it. Lana and Minho took the spears and handed it out to the Gladers, Lana noticed Gally, bossing and helping the other builders with the barricades.

With a arm full of spears, she joined the group and smiled "Here are your spears, careful with them" Lana handed a spear to each of the boys, each of them saying thanks, Gally was the last. "You know how to use this Greenie?"

"Of course I do shank, you guys taught me, remember" the boys laughed, Gally smiled and nodded "Good that, you should hide in the homestea-"

Before Gally could finish his sentence, they heard the most terrifying sound of metal and machine coming towards them. A loud screech erupted from all four doors, causing them to cover their ears. "GRIEVERS! EVERYONE, RUN! INTO THE HOMESTEAD!"

I was talking to Gally when I heard it, my head turned to look at the gate in front of me. It was there, a griever. Climbing over the barricade Gally and the others just built, the way it looked shook me to my core.

It dropped down, I could tell from the screams that there were grievers coming from the other gates too. I didn't know that I was frozen to my place till Gally pulled my arm and ran. "Hurry up and run!" he shouted at me, I followed.

The other builders and I ran towards the box, some of them opened the cage and jumped in. Gally looked at me and said "Jump in!"

 _"Kill him"_

I looked around, where was he? "Lana, what are you waiting for?!" Gally started shouting, but the voice of the woman echoed in my head "I will kill him"

Gally pulled my hand, I looked at him in the eyes "I'm sorry Gally, go in without me" using one of the new moves the boys taught me, I tore my hand from his grip, kicked gally from behind, making him fall into the box. "What the-?! LANA, GET IN HERE!" He shouted, and so did the other boys.

I locked the box from outside and smiled "You'll be safe in there" and ran, not wanting my new friends to be eaten or killed.

 _"Escape, and I will kill him"_

I ran, passed the panicking gladers who were trying to reach the homestead, the horrible grievers slowing making their way towards us and all the chaos in the glade. My eyes scanned the area, looking for one person in particular, my heart couldn't take anymore, the voice in my head repeated the words _"I will kill him_ " over and over again. Where are you, Newt?

"NEWT!" I screamed over and over, not even thinking that my voice could attract a griever.

 _"KILL HIM"_ No, please. Don't kill him, anyone but Newt. "LANA!" The sound of his voice made me stop in my tracks, I quickly turned and saw him, Newt, standing in the middle of the field with a spear on his back, shouting my name over and over.

"NEWT!" I shouted back at him, he turned his head and looked at me, relief washed over his face as he sprinted towards me. _"KILL HIM!"_

I hugged him as tightly as I could, he did the same. "Bloody hell Lana, I was so scared when I couldn't find you in the Homestead, in the hut or in the other camps." I buried my face on his chest and sighed "Me too."

"KILL HIM!" Her voice echoed in my head, I looked up and saw a griever running towards us, before it could hit Newt, I pulled him to the side, near the homestead. "We need to hide, NOW!"

We ran, the griever was catching up. I was fast but Newt struggled, his limp was causing him to slow down. I held onto his arm and helped him catch up, my knees buckling up now and then to adjust to his weight. So close yet so far from the homestead, Newt's leg gave out, causing us to drop down, the griever right on our tail.

"Newt, we have to get up!" I stood up and tried to pull his arms, but his body gave out. Newt frowned "You need to get out of here Lana" I didn't bother listening to him and kept pulling. "You little shank, you really think i'd leave you just like that?!" I said aloud.

I could hear the griever closing in on us, "Lana. GO. NOW. That's an Order!" I managed to get him to lean on me, I hissed back at him "Who cares about your bloody orders?! I won't let them kill you!" I need to save him, what if i... There's no other way than that option now is there, I was ready, ready to run and lead the grievers away.

But out of nowhere, the sound of someone shouting from behind our caught their attention. "HEY! You ugly pieces of Klunks! I'M RIGHT HERE!" I looked behind us and saw a boy, who I've never talked to before, throwing apples at the griever that was chasing us and taunting them.

"PETER! WHAT ARE YOU BLOODY DOING!?" Newt shouted as loud as he could at the boy, he just smiled and said "Distraction, now get your shucking ass in the homestead or I've killed myself for nothing!"

"No, don't do it!" I shouted to the boy, he nodded at me "Take care of Newt!" he shouted one last time before running away from the homestead and into the woods. Grievers following him from left and right.

One particular griever, the one who was chasing us, however, stood there. Eyeing us, and charged again towards us.

"Bloody Hell!" Newt screamed as he felt his leg ache, he must be exhausted. "We need to get to the homestead," as soon as I spoke, I saw Minho running towards us, "Minho, over here!"

"C'mon!" Minho ran to us and grabbed Newt from my arms and onto his back "Let's go!"

And then, we heard it. The sound of a griever, taking the boy named Peter, his strangled screams were heard and it echoed within the glade, causing everyone, to stand still.

The griever behind us stopped, I know because I couldn't hear it anymore, the sound of a machine.

None of us looked back, we ran straight for the homestead.

Thomas was the one holding the door open, as soon as he saw us, he shouted something to the others and Teresa came rushing out of the homestead.

"Lana! Thank God, you're alright." She hugged me and I hugged her back, being around her made me feel like I gained an older sister. My stress was now decreasing.

Minho placed Newt down and playfully hit his head "If you wanted to be a knight & shining armor and save the princess, could you have at least told one of us what you were going to do without us worrying?"

Newt laughed and nodded "Good that, sorry."

I approached Newt and hugged him from behind. "I should be saying sorry, you shuck face..." I mumbled into his shirt.

I could hear the others whisper to each other, Newt didn't say a word. He just stood there, silent as the night.

"... Newt?" I called out to him, he visibly flinched and sighed. "Come with me." He held my hand as brought us further in the homestead, the council room. This was where we talked the other night, the night where he forbid me to go in the maze.

"Newt, please talk to me. Say something, please!" I pleaded, I wanted to TALK to him. He just stood there, his gaze on the flames of a torch.

"Lana," I jumped, he suddenly talked and looked at me "Why didn't you leave me out there when I told you to?" Wait. What? "Are you out of your mind? I didn't want you to die!"

Newt frowned "If you left me, I would have died in Peter's place." Oh no, he's blaming himself.

"Don't blame yourself, Peter did that to save you, us!" No, please Newt. Stop this. "Why did he do that?" He shook his head. "I would have done the same thing."

He looked at me "What?" I smiled at him "It's true, if Peter wasn't there, I would have distracted the grievers myself."

Newt grabbed my shoulders and looked at me in the eye "Why would you even think that?"

"The same reason Peter did it, to save you. So that YOU, could live. Don't waste his sacrifice and live on... You would have done the same thing for me, wouldn't you?" The look on his eyes softened.

A light chuckle escaped from his lips, "Of course I would, why do think I went out there in the glade looking for you?" he smiled and caressed my cheek.

"Thank you and I'm sorry about this morning." Newt shook his head "It was stupid of me to even say that, losing my trust in you... never" I hugged him for the third time that night. "I missed you" he hugged me back "I missed you too Lana."

Newt sighed, he placed his head on my shoulder and said "You're right, I should be shucking happy."

I looked at him and smiled but it quickly faded when I realized something "Newt, why did the griever stop following us when they got Peter?" His head shot up and he stepped back a bit "That's strange..."

We peeked out from the boarded window and saw that the grievers were gone. Minho, Thomas and Teresa entered the room, Minho asked "Lana, where's Gally and the others?"

"Gally? Oh! I locked them in the Box to keep them safe from the grievers!" Newt smiled "Nice thinking love, Minho, go get them out."

"But won't the grievers attack them?" Thomas asked, I shook my head "The grievers are gone, they left after they took Peter"

Teresa looked out the window and nodded "Yeah, it's totally clear outside."

I sighed and looked around "Newt, where's Alby?" Newt turned and snapped his fingers as if he remembered something important, "He said that he was going to study the maps in the map room"

Huh? "The map room? But..." I looked at Minho, who was standing at the back of the group, he had his finger on his lip. Keep quiet, his expression said.

"But isn't that dangerous? I mean, what if he was taken by the grievers?" I quickly said, Newt smiled at me and said "It's Alby, he'll be fine."

Winston entered the room with a pale face "Bad news! There's a fire coming from the forest!"

The color in Newt's face disappeared "No, the map room! Alby!" we left the room in a hurry together with the rest of the other Gladers.

Minho left to get Gally while the rest of us tried to put out the fire. We were able to make a pathway from the front entrance, Newt, Thomas, Winston and Frypan went in to look for Alby.

"Lana!" I looked behind and saw Minho, Gally and the other builders come rushing towards us. At the same time, Newt and the others came rushing out of the map room, Frypan carrying Alby on his back.

Clint and Jeff immediately went to Alby's side and transported him to the medical hut. Gally and the builders approached me, all of them surrounding me.

"Lana, you shank! You scared us!" one boy shouted, "You're alright?" I nodded, Gally looked at me with a serious expression "Glad to see you're alright"

"Sorry about kicking you and locking you in the box..." he smiled "It's fine, but seriously shank, don't make us worry ever again."

One boy nudged Gally "He means don't make HIM worry, this shank was cursing the entire time you left us!" "Yeah, he was worried sick!"

I laughed with the other boys while Gally just glared at them. "What did we miss? Any casualties besides Alby and the flaming map room?"

"..."

Gally looked at me, "What?" Minho sighed "Peter was taken, but only him. They almost got Lana and Newt but Peter distracted the grievers."

I added "It was because of him that Newt and I made it..." Gally nodded and patted my head "It wasn't your fault Lana, remember that." I smiled at him.

Someone touched my shoulder from behind, I looked and saw Newt with a smile on his face. "Alby's alright, someone seemed to have knocked him unconscious and burned all the stuff inside."

"All the maps!?" Gally exclaimed, Minho and I kept silent as Newt nodded. "We have to do something about the grievers!"

Newt frowned "Call a gathering, all of the keepers, meet in the council room in the homestead."

 **Some people have been asking me: Why am I using the movie as my basis? Have you read the book?**

 **My answer is yes, I have read the book. I used the movie as reference because I know that most of the readers here only know the movie. But If you noticed, I used most of the references of the book in this chapter.**

 **Please don't question it, I'm going to use both the book and the movie for the upcoming chapters, I promise you, it will turn out nicely :)**

 _Next Chapter:_

 _"I'm sorry"_

 _The sky was grey, Thomas and Teresa finally found a clue to solve the maze and escape. Gally called for me, he said it was important and that he had a question. But the only answer I could give him was... "I'm sorry Gally"_


	5. I'm Sorry

_~I'm sorry~_

Newt called a Gathering, he said that all the keepers are to be present. I frowned, "I think we should postpone the gathering." Newt raised a brow "Why?"

They looked around as I spoke, "The Grievers practically destroyed everything, we need to salvage the remaining supplies and keep them in a safe location."

Gally placed a hand on my shoulder "Lana's right, we need to salvage what's left of our supplies. The builders and I will fix the barricades, make them taller and stronger."

Minho nodded "Good that" Gally nodded and left, Newt sighed and reluctantly agreed, Thomas and Teresa looked at each before Thomas spoke "We have an idea on how to get out of the Maze"

"Well, spit it out Tommy"  
"Teresa told me that when she woke up from the coma, she had memories flashing through her mind and she said that the maze is a code."  
Minho scratched the back of his head "Then why didn't you tell us that sooner?"  
"We didn't know how to... " Thomas sighed.

I glanced at Teresa, she nodded as soon as she met my gaze, it was true. Minho looked at Thomas as if he was out of his mind "How the hell is the maze a code?"

Thomas and Teresa both shook their heads, "I don't know really, but we have a theory," Thomas pointed to Minho and Newt "That's why we were going to ask you something."

Newt folded his arms "And that would be?" Teresa looked at me then Newt "If you guys remember the Maze patterns, then maybe, just maybe, we can find codes to solve the maze and get out of this place."

I looked at Newt, who too looked at me then Minho. Minho's eyebrows raised at Newt, as if asking, should we tell them? Newt sighed and nodded. Thomas looked at me "What? Are we missing something here?"

Before I could speak, Minho said "We hid the Maps, Thomas." Teresa smiled "Seriously?"

I nodded and smiled "We hid the maps in a secret room in the Homestead," I pointed to Minho, "He placed fake maps in their place."

Minho nodded "All because of Alby's warning to watch over the maps, Newt assigned Lana and I to hide them." Thomas finally smiled, he was clearly excited. I hugged Teresa "If you guys have a plan, then let's go!"

As the sun started to rise, we headed towards the Homestead; away from all the chaos. "We'll need pens and wax paper" Teresa told me not to ask and just go with it. Thomas and Minho went to get wax paper from Frypan, who wasn't happy since he uses the wax paper for baking bread and he only had a few left in stock.

Newt, Teresa and I placed all of the maps on the floor, each of them had different patterns. If I was a glader, I'd go mad from memorizing all of this and running through it. It's amazing how Minho and the rest of the runners could hold themselves in the maze.

I was seated on the floor beside Newt when the two came back, Thomas told us to slim it and follow his lead. He started tracing the patterns of the map to the wax paper, then comparing them to the other. Newt was the first one to notice the clue, then I too saw it a little after him.

From the patterns on the wax paper, a darker line formed the letter "F". "We need to do more!" I exclaimed in excitement, Newt laughed beside me when I started grabbing as much maps and wax paper as I could.

"Easy there love, we don't want you to overwork yourself." He smiled as he continued his work, tracing the maps onto the wax paper in front of him "I know, but the idea of finding clues is just so..." Teresa, Thomas and Minho laughed at my loss for words.

"We're going to need more people before we go." I tilted my head at Minho, "Go where?" Thomas looked at him with wide eyes "You mean we're still going out there?!"

"That's right," Newt spoke aloud but was still concentrating on his work, "What we're doing is a secret, we know for a fact that some gladers don't like what's happening. If they found out that we're trying to solve the maze, they'd throw a fit and go against us."

It's true, no matter how much I'd like to deny it, some gladers hated the change. The change we brought to the maze, even Gally doesn't like it. I inwardly sighed, Gally, my new friend. He didn't like change yet he made friends with me, when we solve the maze, I hope he'll come with us to the outside world.

Noticing my distress, Newt placed his hand on top of mine and gave it a light squeeze. I nodded in response, Minho and Thomas left a few minutes later, leaving us three in charge while a couple of trusted people, even chuck, came to help. Of course, not everyone were told about this, and some went in shifts so that no one would notice the lack of gladers.

A couple of hours passed, we found three words so far.

FLOAT  
CATCH  
BLEED

Only a few of us were currently in the room; Newt, Frypan, Winston, Teresa and I chatted with each other, trying to keep each other entertained. I suddenly remembered when Gally and I were on our way to the weapon room, I saw a red blinking light and it flew away so fast.

Newt was the closest one to me, after the incident last night, we didn't leave each other's sights except if necessary. "Newt, have you seen a red blinking light that flies?" "You mean a beetle blade?"

"A beetle blade?" He nodded "Yeah, they serve as cameras for our Creators. Keeping an eye on us from time to time."

Newt looked at me "Did you happen to see one here?" I shook my head "None today, but I noticed one last night. I think it was following me, I'm not sure though."

He nodded, "Actually, Beetle blades are usually green or black. But around the time I started here in the Glade, a silver shiny one was always following me,"

"I didn't tell anyone about it though, I mean, I was the only one with a silver Beetle blade tailing him." I couldn't help but smile, Newt is special... He just doesn't know it.

"That's so cool!" We both started laughing and saw that Frypan and the others had to leave; Clint, Zart, and some other boys I didn't know came in after them.

Newt introduced me to them, they weren't afraid of approaching Teresa and me anymore. We talked about how the supplies were doing, if Gally and the others managed to fix the barricades and such.

We found two more words,

DEATH  
STIFF

I stared at the five words, none of them sounded good nor friendly for that matter.

"I need to check everything outside, want to join me?" Newt asked as he reached out a hand. I smiled and grabbed it, "Sure" We walked out of the Homestead and walked around the Glade.

We visited Frypan, according to him, we have a limited supply of food that could last for two weeks at most. Newt said not to worry since according to Zart, we have tons of crops that are still growing.

Jeff and Clint were still watching over Alby, the gash on his head looked better than before. "Who could've burned the maps?"

Newt walked beside me, our hands touching each other from time to time in a swaying motion. "To be honest, I thought it was Gally or Alby himself,"

"But you locked Gally in the box and Alby couldn't have hit himself." I nodded on his reasoning. He was right, no one was outside last night except for Alby, Gally and the other builders, who I too locked them in the box.

Slowly, we walked to the gates where Gally and the builders were. The barricades were now taller than before. As soon as we were in sight, the boys started waving to our direction.

"I think they're waving at you, they don't really care about me." Newt's voice sulked, I giggled, he was just too cute.

"Oh you're just jealous" I laughed before I fist bumped with one of the builders. Newt smiled and shook his head, Gally approached us with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Well, I think we did a pretty good job." he said, I nodded in agreement "Yeah, it's huge!"

"Hopefully it would last the night" We all nodded, the other builders were sitting around, resting. Newt looked up and frowned "Sunset, we have to go."

"Good that, back to the Homestead boys!" Gally called out, they immediately stood up, gathered their things and made their way to the Homestead.

The three of us were left when we saw Minho and Thomas go through the wooden door that was placed at the bottom of the barricade. "Any news?"

Minho eyed Gally before saying "Later, we really need some water by the way" with an 'as a matter of fact' tone. Thomas, Newt and I chuckled while Gally kept quiet.

I saw Newt, Minho and Thomas make their way to the room where the maps were. Before I could follow them down, I went to Gally, "Gally, could you help Frypan with the distribution of food? We're keeping check of the supplies in the other room."

He smiled and nodded "Good that, make sure that everything is in check. I'll put away some food for you when you're done. Oh before I forget,"

Gally handed me a piece of paper "Give that to Newt, one of the Gladers found it attached on a Beetle blade today" "Thank you!"

I didn't want to lie to him, but Gally didn't need to know about the maps just yet.

I headed down where the others were, Teresa spoke "We found the last word, PUSH,"

Thomas looked at her "How'd you figure out that it was the last word?" Chuck answered "It repeated the words FLOAT and CATCH again."

"Newt, one of the Gladers found this attached to a beetle blade." I handed him the paper, he read it aloud.

 _"One kill per night"_  
I looked over his shoulder to see it as well "What does that mean?"  
Teresa snapped her fingers "That must be why the Grievers left after they got Peter!"

"So they'll only kill one person per night... So they're killing us off one by one." Thomas mumbled. I smacked his back with my hand "Don't be so negative Thomas"

He raised a brow "How can I be positive?!" "At least they're not killing us all at once!" I shouted back at him, I was almost fuming with anger.

How can this idiot be so naive? "This may sound insensitive but think about it for a moment before losing all hope!"

I sighed, I'm too tired. I heard Newt speak in my stead "Lana's right, it's better this way. We have a chance to solve the maze and now we have the code. All we need to know is what the bloody words mean."

Minho sighed "Actually, I think it's in our status report"

Newt looked at Minho "Alright, Status report" Minho crossed his arms "Thomas and I found something in the maze,"

"We think It's where the grievers come from, it's locked, but outside of the door is a keypad with red lights." I smiled "So one of us can type the words and it'll unlock!"

Thomas nodded "Exactly, and I have an plan on how to pass through the griever... But it might not sound good"

"Whatever, anything by this point is better than having no plan. Call a gathering!" Newt ordered and looked at me, I smiled and raised both of my hands in the air "Hey, I won't stop you... But can we eat supper first? I'm starving!"

Everybody laughed in the room, all nodding in agreement, Newt pokes my forehead and grins "Fine, You win again."

Newt sat to my right, Teresa to my left, Thomas was in front of her and Minho was directly in front of me. I looked at Thomas "Sorry for shouting at you" He shook his head "No, I'm sorry. You're right, I should be positive and make sure the plan goes well." I smiled.

Minho pointed his knife towards me, "You know Lana, every time I see you, I start to like you more and more,"

Shocked, I almost choked on my food. Thomas dropped his spoon and stared at Minho with wide eyes, Teresa continued eating but glared at him, while Newt on the other hand stopped eating all in all.

"I mean, you have a wonderful personality but what I like about you is your flare!" I stared at him "My... what?!"

"You know... You've got Fire!"  
Trying to dodge his flirts I say "Please, if you wanted fire, Teresa's got more flare than I do."  
"Yeah and go near Lana, I'd burn ya to a crisp" Teresa pointed her knife back at him.

"Oh come on, I was just flirting. Something I'd do to any other girl, I didn't touch her body so... No harm done!" Minho laughed, Newt placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Lana's not just 'Any other girl' and dare to talk about her body again, I'll tie you up and let Teresa beat you up." I looked at him in surprise, he was actually glaring at Minho.

Minho's eyes widened "Woah, I'm sorry... Didn't know Lana was so important to you." My cheeks warmed up at the comment.

I was important to Newt? I looked back at the brit, he dropped his hand from my shoulder and placed it under the table and covered his face with his free hand.

Without thinking, I took the hand under the table in mine and intertwined our fingers. Newt looked at me in surprise, I nodded at him and he sighed "I'm sorry Minho, I didn't mean to shout at you."

Minho smiled and nodded "I know, Im sorry too to the both of you. I shouldn't have said the things I've said." they both smiled.

Newt squeezed my hand, I squeezed back. Teresa probably noticed my smile and spoke,

"I'm done eating; Minho, Thomas, let's go check on the supplies." Thomas raised a brow "But I'm not yet done... and what about them?" Minho looked at us, grinned and winked "Leave them."

They left and disappeared into another room, we stayed like this for a few minutes, we finally let go and followed the others for the Gathering. Like last time, Newt called for all the keepers to be present and Thomas.

Some of the keepers didn't like Teresa and I to intervene in their discussion so Teresa told me the plan back in the room where we slept. Since we were girls, Newt separated us from the boys for our safety.

We heard the screams and moans of the grievers entering the maze, we can't do anything about them from in here.

I sat down beside Teresa, she bit her lip "Lana, I have to tell you something..." I nodded "Tell me anything you want"

She exhaled "Thomas and I can talk to each other in our minds" she spoke quickly but I caught every word. No wonder they were always looking at each other. I looked at her, Teresa's head was bowed down. "That's so cool!" I exclaimed.

Her head shot up in surprise, what was she expecting? She sighed "Thank the God, I thought you would think I'm a freak or something"

I hugged her and she hugged back "I would never think of you like that! You were already the coolest person in my life, now you have powers?! You can rule the world!"

I flung my arms out in the air for a poor excuse for an illustration of the world. Teresa started laughing at my weirdness, I stopped and joined her as we laughed till out stomachs hurt.

When we calmed down, Teresa explained the plan to me. I frowned at the thought that Thomas volunteered to be the sacrifice for us to pass through the griever. "And you're letting him do this?"

Teresa shook her head "I tried to talk him out of it, he wouldn't listen. Since it was his idea and all... He didn't want me to get hurt or get killed."

"He cares about you too much to throw away your life for him." I rubbed her back, trying to ease her sadness.

"But if I was given a choice to choose who to die, Thomas or me, I'd choose myself. I care for him too much..." Teresa's eyes started watering, I hugged her, trying to calm her down.

We heard the door to the council room open with a slam, it startled us. Teresa stopped crying so we peeked out the door to look at the council room door.

Gally stepped out, his face was red with rage, he didn't even see us as he went back to the sleeping area. Followed by Newt and Thomas, who sighed and spotted us.

The two walked towards us, I looked at Teresa and wiped her wet cheeks before the boys got to us.

Teresa sat on her blanket, Thomas sat beside her and started whispering. I stood by the door, Newt sighed and placed his forehead on my shoulder.

"You alright?" I asked, rubbing his back for stress relief. He nodded his head "Yeah, it's just... I wish Gally didn't make it so bloody hard."

We were now hugging, Newt was breathing slowly "He has his reasons. I'll talk some sense into him, I'm sure it'll work out."

"You're always right, thank you Lana. Now," he pulled me towards a blanket on the floor, "You need some sleep, you haven't slept for two days."

I sat down and held on to the bottom hem of his pants "You haven't slept either, you're exhausted!"

I looked at Teresa and saw that she and Thomas were already asleep, leaning on the wall and shared a blanket, side by side. Newt looked as well and mumbled "I guess I can take a nap here..."

He sat down beside me, I placed the blanket where our legs were to keep us warm. "You can lean on me if you want" I smiled "Thank you Newt"

I leaned on his shoulder, my eyes immediately closing, I gladly greeted sleep with open arms.

Newt smiled as soon as Lana's eyes closed "Anytime" he too closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The following morning, Lana woke up to the sound of someone talking. She opened her eyes and saw that Teresa and Thomas were talking.

She looked down and noticed that Newt was still beside her, sleeping soundly. Lana slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled.

"Thank you Newt" She kissed his cheek, Newt's eyes twitched and slowly opened. "Hm? Good morning love, what are you staring at? Do I have drool on my face?" He mumbled and started wiping his mouth.

Lana laughed "Good morning, and no drool, just you." She looked at Thomas and Teresa, the two waved and greeted them a good morning as well.

Newt slowly stood up "We need to check if anyone got taken..." he was still clearly half asleep but he didn't mind it and went to the sleeping area.

The other three stood up as well and followed his lead. Alby was already standing up and shouting orders by the time they got there.

"You're awake!" Newt exclaimed, but his excitement died down when he noticed the surroundings. Lana and the others stopped in their tracks as soon as they entered the area.

On the west wall of the sleeping area was a big hole that lead to the glade. Minho came, "They got Adam... Thomas, let's go!" Thomas nodded and ran with Minho into the maze.

"Teresa, Lana, go and help Frypan. Inspect all the leftover supplies!" Alby ordered the two, they nodded and ran off. Newt stayed with Alby to talk about the meeting.

"Lana!" She looked behind her and saw a boy running towards them. Teresa looked at him "What's wrong Jack?"

The boy named Jack shook his head, "Gally wants to talk to you, seems pretty important. Meet him at the watch tower, now." He said and ran off.

"Teresa, you can go ahead. I'll catch up, I promise." Teresa nodded and left, Lana walked towards the watch tower where Gally waited.

The sky was grey, Thomas and Teresa finally found a clue to solve the maze and escape. Gally called for me, he said it was important.

I climbed up the ladder and saw him. I saw Gally in the same position he was in the last time we were both here. I copied the same position again.

"You called?" He sighed "C'mon Gally, talk to me. You can tell me anything, were friends, right?"

"Right... Friends" Gally looked at me and said "Since were friends, you wouldn't leave me, right?"

"Of course, I would never leave a friend" I smiled at him, Gally was my friend and he finally thought of me as a friend too.

"Then, if I told you to stay here in the Glade with me... You would, right?" I frowned "What are you saying?"

"Don't go with them, we can live peacefully in the Glade. You don't need them, stay here... with me." I could tell from his face, he was serious. He meant every word.

He is my friend but... the thought of Teresa and Newt leaving, made my heart break. My eyes started to tear up, "I-I'm sorry Gally.."

My voice started cracking, the thought of the people you love leaving you hurt so much. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed "I'm so sorry Gally!"

He didn't say anything. "I-I can't leave them, I-My heart won't bare being far away from them!"

"From them?... Or from Newt?" I could hear Gally standing up, before he descended the ladder, he said "I thought that you out of all people would stay with me... I guess I was wrong."

And he was gone. I lost him, I lost my friend... I was his only real friend and I broke him. I'm so sorry Gally... I really am. But for the sake of everyone I love, we have to get out of here.

 _Next chapter:_  
 _"Banishment"_

 _The Gladers gathered up near the gate. Some were dragging Thomas' body and pulling Teresa to the center, there were two poles. Gally in the middle, he looked at Thomas in disgust before saying "Let the Banishment begin!"_


	6. Banishment

_~Banishment~_

I slowly walked to where the med-jacks were, my eyes turned red, but luckily no one noticed because they were all busy with their own jobs. I needed to get a pack of ice from them or maybe some eye drops then to talk to Teresa, I needed to tell someone what happened or i'll explode.

I opened the door and saw that Alby was there, Clint replacing his bandage while Jeff was at the back, checking out all the medicines and other medical needs. "Lana, I was hoping to talk to you..." Alby squinted his eyes "Were you crying?"

I quickly shook my head "N-no... There was something in my ey-" Alby patted my head "I've heard that excuse from tons of Gladers, some were missing their home, others from getting hurt and so on..."

I looked at him "Some people think of me as the big brother here, now... Tell me what's wrong." I didn't think that i'd tell Alby the truth. But something so familiar about him made me start to pour everything out.

I told him the truth about what happened with Gally, he quietly listened until I was finished. Alby smiled sadly "Even after losing his memories he still..."

I looked at him questionably "Ah- it's nothing, I think Gally really thought of you as a friend, you're incredible Lana."

"Incredible? No, if anyone is incredible here, it would be you."  
"Why me?" Ably sat back on the bed when Clint called him.  
"You're the leader in the Glade! You managed everything the others couldn't."  
He shook his head "That was only because I knew who to trust when they placed us in here"  
I suddenly remembered the first time Alby and I met "What did you mean when you said that 'That woman wouldn't put me in here'?"

Alby frowned and sighed "It's not my place to tell you..." I looked at Clint, he got the idea and left without another word. "Please tell me, I want to know who I was." Alby shook his head "If I did, you would have wished I didn't."

Was I that bad? Was my past that bad to the point where i'd hate it? "Were we friends back then?" that was the only question that I wanted to ask, he smiled and nodded "Yeah, we were friends." I smiled as well "How about Teresa? Newt?"

"Teresa spent most of her time with Thomas and two others, but she was always friendly to you. And Newt... well, you were extremely close"

I smiled then frowned "Alby, what do you think about the plan? Do you agree with everyone wanting to leave?" He furrowed his forehead "To be honest, no. I don't think we should leave" I tilted my head to the side.

"Why?" He furrowed his brows "It's hard to explain, the outside world isn't as kind like it used to be..."

"What are you talking about?" Alby smiled "I'm talking about how humans evolved, there are new things out there that we don't know."

"Better than being hunted by grievers." I joked, he chuckled a bit before looking at me "Looks like you're all better"

He was right, I was smiling and laughing. "Thanks Alby, I really needed that talk." "No problem Lana" Before he left i called to him "When I came in, you said that you had something to talk to me about?"

Alby shook his head "Another time, when all this is over..." I nodded and he left. I sighed, Clint came out from the back "Figured you needed this" He handed me a pill and a glass of water.

"It helps ease headaches" he said with a smile. Jeff came out and gave me an ice pack "Keep this on for a while, you can take a short nap on the bed." I looked up at the two med jacks, both of them smiling with a look of concern on their face.

"Thanks guys, I owe you two big time." I hugged the both of them before laying on the bed at the corner of the room, Clint nodded at me and closed the curtain for privacy.

I took the ice pack, luckily Jeff already wrapped it in cloth, and placed it on top of my eyes. With that, I immediately fell asleep.

Newt scanned the area, a bunch of Gladers carrying wood and supplies from room to room.

The builders were busy, fixing the broken wall. Gally appeared out of nowhere, his brow furrowed as he slowly made his way to the others.

When he passed Newt, Gally glared at him before joining the rest. Newt noticed Jack beside him, "What's wrong with him?"

Jack shrugged "Maybe Lana said something to him." the Brit looked at his friend "Lana? What does this have to do with her?"

"Oh, Gally called for her this morning, said that he needed to tell her something alone." before Jack left he said "I dunno anything, but I think I saw Lana heading to the med jacks."

Newt nodded and was deep in thought. Why did Gally want to speak with Lana? What was so important that they had to do it alone? Why does Gally look pissed at him?

He shook his head and started walking towards where the med jacks were. Clint opened the door and saw Newt standing outside, the lad smiled before saying "Last bed to the right"

"Thanks" Jeff blocked his way "I'd be careful with what I'd say if I were you, she's in a sensitive state right now." Newt nodded his head "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

He walked over to the bed and slowly opened the curtain, revealing Lana with a ice pack on her eyes. She was breathing slowly, a sign that she was probably asleep.

Newt sat on her bed and grabbed her hand in his. He gently brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles, Lana's hand twitched and slowly squeezed his hand.

Her other hand lifted the ice pack from her face and looked at the boy beside her "Hey" she whispered "Hello love" he whispered back.

"What are you doing with my hand?" She raised a brow, Newt chuckled and held it with both hands "I just wanted to hold it, that's all."

Lana smiled and brought his hand to her lips and kissed it "Now what was that for?" Newt smiled

"Just wanted to return that kiss you gave me" Newt raised a brow "Then, can I return the kiss you have me this morning?"

Lana's cheeks turned a shade of pink, he was awake! Her mind shouted, she giggled and nodded. "As you wish." Newt slowly inched his face closer to hers, with a smirk, he kissed her cheek.

His soft lips pressed against her cheek made her blush madly. As soon as he lifts his face away from hers, she brought her free hand to cup his face, "You... won't leave me, right?"

"Never dream of it, I'd even stay here with you, if that's what you wanted." He used one of his hands and cupped her left cheek, she leaned in as he did on hers.

"Why? Why would you risk your freedom to be with me? You'd be able to go home..." Newt smiled "You are my home, I've been thinking about this for a while now,"

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Lana stared at him while he inwardly struggled with himself. She rubbed her thumb on his cheek "Newt, what have you been thinking about?"

Lana calling his name snapped him out of his struggle, he visibly relaxed and looked into her eyes "I think I-" Before Newt could continue, the door opened.

Although the curtain was blocking them from being seen, the two froze in their place. "That shank thinks he can do whatever he wants," They knew that voice.

"Gally, what did Lana say? Will she stay with us?" A boy asked cheerfully but his voice died down "No, she said that she'll go with the others"

"Really?!" The boy didn't hide his surprise, "I thought that if you asked her, she'd say yes." "I thought so too... But she decided to stay with Newt"

"You're jealous, I saw the way you looked at Newt," the boy paused then asked "You like her, don't you?" Gally was silent for a while.

Newt felt Lana's hands tremble, he looked at her and noticed her eyes were tearing up. She closed her eyes, tears fell and she looked like she wanted to cry out loud.

Newt panicked, if Gally heard them now, he'd really get mad. Newt needed Lana to hold her cries in until Gally left.

"Where's Clint or Jeff? I need something to calm my nerves or I'll punch someone." Gally nearly shouted. Great, that was just what they needed, a pissed Gally and their current position. Bloody wonderful, Newt thought.

Newt did the only thing he knew that would keep her quiet, he slowly brought his face towards hers and closed his eyes. Lana didn't seem to notice him until she felt it.

She felt his soft lips slowly press themselves onto her forehead. Lana's eyes flickered open, tears stopped flowing out when she saw and felt that Newt was kissing her.

"Maybe he went out," the boy said "Let's go fix the damn wall already." "Good that." The door opened and closed. Newt guessed that they probably left, so he opened his eyes.

Their eyes met, Newt slowly removed his lips from her forehead and caressed her cheek, "Please don't cry, love," Newt pressed his forehead against hers and whispered "I'm right here, you won't lose me."

He whispered the words I heard in my dream. He's right, he was still with me. I smiled at him and Newt smiled back, his eyes squinting and his lips formed a huge grin.

Newt sat up, so did I. "We should get back, Alby might be looking for us." He gently whispered as he squeezed my hand for the nth time.

"Alby knows that I'm here, but yeah. He might call us slackers." I giggled and stood up from the bed. Newt pulled me to the door, our hands intertwined.

We still held each other's hand when we walked silently around the glade, greeting a Glader every time they passed by. Chuck saw us and raised a brow, "I'm not going to ask, but congratulations." the boy smiled.

I stood there, blushing madly and looked at the boy "What?" Newt shook his head and said "Chuck we're not a co-" the boy shook his head "Don't try to deny it, you can't hide anything from me. Bye love birds!" Before we could say anything, Chuck ran towards the homestead.

I looked at Newt, he looked back at me. I immediately remembered what the boy said earlier in the med-jack's tent. Gally was jealous of Newt, Newt must have heard that.

I stared at him, his brows furrowed in confusion "What's bothering you?" I couldn't stop myself from saying "You're not going to ask?"

"About what, love?" I lowered my gaze and stared at the grassy floor, I couldn't believe myself for asking it but... "About what happened between Gally and me?"

"Oh... that, right." I looked up at him, his free hand rubbed the back of his neck while looking away from me. "I was hoping you'd tell me when you're ready."

I stared at him in awe. I was expecting him to ask me about it, but what was I thinking, this was Newt that we were talking about. I hugged him without a second thought.

"Woah there, love." He was clearly surprised with my actions, I smiled and mumbled "Why are you such a shucking gentleman?"

I buried my face in his chest, I could feel him chuckle, his chest raising and falling every time he breathed in and out "Maybe it's in my nature" he joked.

"Yeah right," I grabbed his hand in mine once more "Now, let's go find Alby." We walked around the Glade, not a trace of Alby anywhere.

We went back to the homestead where the builders were. I noticed that Gally was missing as well, "Has anyone seen Alby?"

"He went with Gally to the forest." I knew the sound of his voice, he was the one Gally was with earlier, now that I saw his face, I remembered him. He was the one who teased Gally about him being worried during the first night of the Griever attack.

I saw him frown at me. I knew why. Newt went ahead to check on the others, I followed him but stopped beside the boy "I'm sorry" I whispered.

"It's not me who needs your sorry, you really hurt him Lana. He, no. We all thought that you would stay with us." He looked at me "Gally needs you, we need you."

I looked inside through the broken wall and saw Newt, he was talking to Zart when he glanced my way and smiled. I smiled too, "But I can't make it without him, I need him."

It was true, I needed Newt. The person who has been with me since the first time I entered the Glade. The boy who has done nothing but think of my safety ever since day one. He forbade me from entering the maze for my own good.

But besides that fight we had, he has been nothing but kind and sweet to me. The connection that I have with him made me want to stay even closer to him.

How much did this boy mean to me before I entered the Glade? I wondered. The boy beside me nodded "You've made your choice." he spoke before he went back to work.

Newt made his way to me, whispering to my ear "I need you to check on the maps, make sure that we didn't miss anything and such."

I nodded "Alright, I'll be in there when you need me." He smiled and left with Zart. They were probably going to check on the crops.

I entered the room where the maps were, they were still scattered on the floor. I sighed. "Really now, why didn't we fix this last night?" I mumbled to myself as I started grabbing the wax paper and maps in the floor.

I placed them neatly and by order on the table. Minho marked the path to where the griever hole was, we all just needed to run.

I looked out the window, funny on how you can almost tell the time by looking at the sky. It was probably lunch time already, as far as I could tell, I wasn't gone for too long.

Someone knocked in the door, I quickly grabbed all of the maps and wax paper and shut them in the drawer on the side of the table. But left a blank sheet of paper and a pen.

I ran to the door and opened it, revealing Newt, who was holding two bowls of stew. "Want some lunch?" I relaxed and smiled.

He came into the room and placed the two bowls on the table, "Writing to someone?" He asked when he saw the pen and paper.

I shook my head "No, I thought you were someone who didn't know about the maps" Newt sat on a chair "Speaking of maps, where are they?"

I pointed to the side drawer "Like I said, I thought you were someone who didn't know about them, so I hid them." Newt smiled "Nice reflexes love"

We joked around while eating our lunch, when we were finished, we stayed in the room for who knows how long and chatted.

I even told him about what happened with Gally. Surprisingly, I didn't want to cry this time. Newt sat directly in front of me, playing with my hands as we talked.

Time passed, people went in and out of the room to check up on us. Zart and Teresa would come in every now and then for a status report.

According to them, Gally and Alby were still gone and after the builders were done with the wall, they would huddle up and go somewhere.

Newt became curious and said that he needed to check things out for himself. I nodded as he left the room, I stood up and went to the gardens and help out.

"Hi Lana, where's Newt?" I looked up from my basket of vegetables and saw Thomas and Minho, "You're back early, Newt is out patrolling"

Minho looked around "I think I found him, I'll be right back." and ran off, Thomas stood beside me "Lana, I need to tell you something. Can we talk somewhere alone?"

"I'm going to do something first Zart, I'll be right back!" I shouted to the keeper of the gardens, Zart looked at Thomas then me "Good that, but be back before Frypan starts asking for his veggies!"

I stood up and walked beside Thomas towards the hut where Teresa and I used to stay in. "What is it Thomas?" He paused for a moment and looked at me "Teresa told me about the voices in your head and about your heart talking whenever," I nodded at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I've been having more dreams, no. visions lately, and I need to remember more than what I already know. There might be a clue in our memories." I stared at him "But the only way to get your memories back is to... No Thomas. No, you can't!"

He starts shaking his head "I'll just go with whoever gets caught tonight and get stung, they won't kill me"

My hand twitched, I had the urge to slap him "You want a fellow Glader to be bait!?" Thomas stopped shaking his head "If that's what it takes to rescue everyone else, yes."

I stood there and thought about it. the life of one in exchange for the life of dozens... but the thought of using someone's death as a distraction made my stomach turn. "Does anyone else know of your plan?" Thomas shook his head "No, just you."

"Why?" He sighed "Because I was going to ask you to go with me, when the griever takes a glader, you and me will run towards it and get stung."

I shook my head "Are you a shucking idiot?! We only have 1 vile left! And what makes you think I'd go along with your plan?"

"Because you want to know your past like I do, probably even more than me" I stood there and stared at him, it's true that I want to know more about my past... but I think that I don't need it to live my life. I agree with Thomas that there might be a clue in my memories but... No.

I shook my head "I'm sorry Thomas but I won't do it, I'll help you with your plan but I won't be a part of it and I won't tell anyone." He nodded "Alright. thank you Lana"

It was sometime in the afternoon, I saw everyone head to the homestead to prepare again. I sighed, Thomas had told me his plan, he wanted me to distract the others while one of the boys gets taken. "What's wrong?"

I jump as Newt appeared beside me, I was sitting by the lake, my legs dipped into the water when I heard his voice. He noticed my reaction and laughed as he sat beside me "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

I smiled at him and hugged him tightly, "What is it love? C'mon, you can tell me." if I told him, he would get angry. "It's nothing really, just feeling a little dizzy." I rubbed my head before removing my clothes, leaving me in my underwear.

"Well you were just staring at nothing" he chuckled, I playfully slapped my hand on his chest and jumped into the lake "Oh shush lizard" "Please Princess, tell me." Princess? I blushed and glared at him, Newt raised a brow and smirked "What?"

I noticed that he stood up and removed his own clothes, but kept his boxers on, and jumped in. Before I knew it, he pulled me into a hug.

"Can I not call my princess, a princess?" He touched our foreheads as he stared into my eyes, my grip on his shoulders tightened. "No" "Why not?"

I bit my lip, I could feel him breathing against my lips, his hold on my waist tightened as well. I snaked my arms around his neck, Is he going to kiss me? "Newt?" "Yes princess?"

"What's happening?" I saw his eyes flicker from my eyes to my mouth then back to my eyes. "I don't know, but I like it... do you?"

I meekly nodded, I really did, our faces were an inch apart. "Lana" he licked his lips, I want to kiss his soft pink lips so badly. "Newt... I want to-"

I jumped when the someone spoke, Minho, Teresa and Thomas. "Let's get back in, Time for dinn-" Minho stopped talking when he saw our position. Teresa and Thomas nearly dropped the food that was in their hands.

Newt and I, almost naked in the lake, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, almost lifting me up. My hands were on his neck to pull him down, and our faces were an inch apart with our eyes half closed.

Newt and I froze in our position, I blushed and covered my face against his chest and Newt glared at the others "Bloody..."

"Uh yeah... dinner, we'll just leave it with Fry and you two continue what you were doing." Minho quickly spoke, "Move your asses before Newt punishes ours!" I looked at them and saw that he was pushing the two while Teresa winked at me.

I blushed, but then we noticed the time, the sun was setting. By the time we dressed and got back into the glade, we heard it again, the sound of the grievers entering the Glade.

A terrible, horrifying sound that could shake even a grown man to cower in fear.

Thomas and I looked at each other, we knew that we had to start the plan, I needed to distract Newt and the rest by doing something that only I can do. I hope Thomas knows what he's doing. Newt looked at me "Are you alright?" "Yes" after I answered, he immediately switched to 2nd in command mode.

"Minho, Thomas, bring whoever you can find and check to see if all windows and doors are covered," the two nodded and left "Lana, Teresa, I need you two with me to find Alby and tell the other Gladers that they better hurry up eating their supper"

By the time we finally found Alby, it was when a griever's hand had already broken through the door and had someone in it's clutches. I looked closely and heard Thomas shout "CHUCK!" I saw him run towards the boy and grabbed him by the hands, Thomas was trying to pull him from the Griever "Don't let go!" He shouted again.

Chuck shouted back "No shit!" I would of laughed if only the situation wasn't so dire. I ran, grabbed an axe and immediately gave it to Alby. Alby started to swing the axe on the Griever hand, it eventually broke and let Chuck go.

I ran to where Chuck was and helped him up "Thanks guys" he sighed, I looked out through the new hole and saw another hand try to dive in. "Run!" I shouted before pulling Chuck away.

The griever hand missed us but went straight to the nearest boy, Dave. "No!" Alby shouted, I looked at Thomas, he nodded at me. I don't want to but, I have to.

I'm scared, I looked at Newt, he was holding a spear and was trying to think of a plan. I really hope this doesn't back fire. I jumped onto the hand, just as Thomas predicted, it hit me and flung me across the room.

The soaring pain all over my body made me paralyzed, I could see Newt and the others run towards me, Thomas took the opportunity and ran after the grievers. "Tommy!" Newt shouted, he looked out then back at me, he crouched beside me and cradled my body in his arms.

"Lana... Lana, please be alright" he repeated over and over then Clint and Jeff rush over. I became dizzy and fainted.

I woke up, the familiar scenery of the clinic didn't make me scared at all. I looked to my side, but Newt wasn't there, he wasn't sitting beside me, he wasn't waiting for me to wake up.

Panic struck me, where is he? I got scared and sat up, someone grabbed my hand, I looked up but frowned when I saw it was the boy who got mad at me. "Where's Newt?" The boy started lifting me in his arms "You'll see him soon"

"Where are you taking me?" I couldn't resist, my body was still recovering from last nights events. "To the gates" "Why?" I could see the corner of his mouth turn into a smile "For the Banishment"

I could see the Gladers gathered up near the gate. Some were dragging Thomas' body and pulling Teresa to the center, there were two poles. Gally in the middle, he looked at Thomas in disgust before saying something that I couldn't hear.

The boy brought me to the center, "Ah, finally the last one. Lana." I could hear Newt shouting "GALLY! NO!" Alby ran beside him "Lana was not apart of the plan!"

"She betrayed me, she needs to pay" Gally bitterly went towards me, the boy threw me on the ground. "Ugh!" I grunted, I saw boys pulling Newt and the others, trying to stop Gally from hurting me.

Alby firmly gripped his shoulder "If you hurt her, the deal is off!" Gally paused, then bent down and grabbed my face in his hand "Let the banishment begin"

-  
 **I dedicate the lake scene to one of my dear lovelies, lena220 , who also sent me gifts for Christmas! Love ya!**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Free"_

 _We raced out of the maze, turning left and right, what scared me the most was not knowing how far we had to go before actually being free. Thomas and Minho finally stopped, we all held our breaths when Thomas said "There are grievers guarding the exit"_


	7. Free

_~Free~_

When Newt saw Lana charge towards the griever and it flung her across the room, his heart stopped, and he ran towards her unconscious body. "Tom, NO!" He looked behind him and saw Thomas run after the grievers, "Tommy!" what were they thinking?! Newt looked back at Lana, crouched to her level and cradled her body in his arms, "Lana... Lana, please be alright"

He could see Clint and Jeff beside him, but that didn't stop him from holding his princess' hand. They rushed her to the medjack tent, Newt didn't care that he was the 2nd in command and that Alby needed him, they all understood why he needed to leave them. She was in the same bed from earlier, Newt was sitting on the edge, holding her hand.

"Please wake up, Lana." He kissed her hand, hoping that she would wake up and would show him the smile that he's come to love. Newt knew that she didn't get stung, he checked her himself, not wanting Clint nor Jeff to touch her body. He didn't care about his desires by this point, all her cared about was Lana's safety.

"Newt," the brit looked up and saw Chuck, as far as he could tell, the boy had been crying. "What's wrong?" Chuck bit his lip before saying "Thomas got stung," Newt's eyes widen "Clint and Jeff are giving him the last vile and is going to be banished tomorrow together with Teresa"

Without letting go of Lana's hand, Newt faced Chuck "What?! By whose orders?!" He bit himself again, he was trying not to cry again, "Alby and Gally's orders" Newt grit his teeth, What?!, Chuck could tell that Newt was furious. "Um, Lana's hand..." Newt looked down and saw that he was squeezing Lana's hand too tight.

Newt's eyes soften and immediately loosened his grip, he brought it once more to his face and kissed it. "Sorry love" he mumbled as if she could hear him, Newt sighed "Where's Tommy now?" "Locked up with Teresa"

Newt nodded at the boy "Thank you Chuck, get some rest. I'll be here with Lana if you need me," chuck was about to leave when Newt said "Tell Minho that we'll pay Tommy a visit the first thing in the morning" "Good that" Chuck nodded and left. Newt sighed and caressed Lana's cheek "Please wake up, love"

He looked out the window, it was still dark out, everything happened so fast. Newt felt weak, he couldn't do anything to prevent her from charging at the Griever. By this point, he expected to feel Lana's grip on his hand, he expected to hear her comforting words and her gentle smile, but none came.

He needed her, the thought of him losing her was... No, he couldn't even imagine. Newt shook his head and slowly descended down to lie beside her. He could see her chest rising and falling, Newt eventually closed his eyes and fell asleep beside her.

He felt someone shake his shoulders, Newt opened his eyes and saw Minho staring down at him, "Rise and shine, time to see Thomas" Newt sat up and kissed Lana's cheek before leaving with Minho. By the time they get to the slammer, they saw Thomas and Teresa, Thomas was still unconscious while Teresa cradled his head.

"How is he?" Minho and Newt bent down to look into the slammer, Teresa frowned "He was talking but it was a slur, I couldn't understand a word he was saying" Newt nodded, hoping that Thomas would shed some light on what happened the other night.

Thomas stirred in his sleep, his eyes fluttered open and stared at Teresa, Thomas frowned at her "We did this" Teresa was clearly confused "What?" "We did this to them, we made the maze. We put them here Teresa!"

"I don't understand..." Thomas saw Newt and Minho, his eyes darted to the two and around them, "Where's Lana?" Newt's brows furrowed, but his voice was calm "Why are you looking for Lana?" Thomas gulped "I'm sorry for what happened last night, Lana agreed to help. But right now, I need to talk to her."

Newt frowned, Minho sighed and said "Lana's unconscious, she was knocked out by the griever because she helped you" the shock in Thomas' face made it clear that he didn't want her to get hurt.

"Newt... I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to" Newt could tell that he was really sorry, he sighed "Lana isn't dead, that's all that matters."

"So why do you want to see Lana?" Thomas swallowed "Because she was with us too, she and another boy, they were... special. She isn't supposed to be here." He sighed "We did this to you, all of you. You're here because of us." Thomas frowned "Gally was right not to trust me"

Newt frowned "I don't care who you, Teresa and Lana were before this. The people I know are the ones here in the Glade. The ones I met and became friends with," Newt thought of Lana, "Whoever you were, that was the past. What you do now matters." Minho patted him at the back and nodded "Yeah, so if you shanks are ready, I've got a plan!"

After they've decided on the plan, Teresa and Thomas got ready while Minho and Newt told a handful of their most trusted friends to prepare. Newt went back to the medjacks tent to check on Lana, she was still unconscious, he frowned. "We're gonna get out of here, I promise." He held her hand and faintly smiled as he kissed her cheek.

He stood up and headed for the gates where the banishment was being held. Almost all of the Gladers were gathered up, there were two poles in the middle. Newt was in front, so he could see what was going on. Alby was beside Gally, which made Newt furious, Alby still hadn't spoken to Newt about anything.

Teresa was being pushed towards the center, resisting with her every might. Thomas on the other hand was unconscious and was being dragged by the arms. Gally looked at Thomas in disgust and hatred "You're going to pay for everything Shank"

Newt saw Gally look up "Ah, finally the last one. Lana." Newt looked at the side and saw Lana being carried by a boy to the center, his eyes widened as he shouted "GALLY! NO!" Alby ran beside him "Lana was not apart of the plan!"

"She betrayed me, she needs to pay" Gally bitterly went towards Lana, the boy threw her on the ground. "Ugh!" Newt wanted to punch Gally and the boy. He tried to run to her side but the builders blocked his way. "Don't you bloody dare!" He screamed.

Even Clint, Zart, Jeff, Minho and some others tried to go past but the builders were stronger than they were. Alby firmly gripped his shoulder "If you hurt her, the deal is off!" Gally paused, then bent down and grabbed her face in his hand "Let the banishment begin"

"Let the banishment begin" was all he needed to say for the entire glade, except Newt and some others, to roar. "Gally, why?" I heard him chuckle "Why? It's because of you three, chaos started happening. First was the Shank over here, then out of nowhere this girl appears," he pointed at the two then at me, "Then you show up as well! Even after they said that she was the last one."

He dropped my face and stood back up, I tried but failed to hold myself up "What about ME!? You mean that you doing this, isn't from you being angry at me because i decided to leave?!" The entire glade was silent again, only the sound of people whispering filled the air. I could see Chuck at the corner of my eye, he was holding luggage. We're they still going to continue the plan without Alby and Gally knowing?

I look back at Gally, from the look on his face, I must have struck a nerve. Alby grabbed his shoulder again "Gally, it's Lana. Remember? Don't do this Gally, at least, not to her. Please" I almost smiled at Alby but then I remembered that he betrayed us. He's at Gally's side, he doesn't want to leave. I frowned at him, Alby noticed this and frowned as well "Im sorry Lana, I don't want anyone to know what's outside"

I could see the agony on his face, he really didn't want us to leave. "Alby," his eyes shifted to look at me, "Trust me, I know what i'm doing. You can't keep me hidden from the dark any longer. We all need to learn the truth." I was shocked by my own words, who are you? I thought to myself. I looked back at Alby, his eyes were wide open and were watering up, did my words... Reach him?

Gally's brows furrowed and shoved Alby backwards "Are you going to betray me too? Huh, Leader?!" Alby looked at me then at Gally. I could feel my strength coming back little by little.

I sat up slowly, Gally and the others eyeing my every move. "Lana!" I looked up and saw Newt, his face full of worry. I smiled at him and looked back at Gally, I could hear Teresa shout "Nothing good will come if you banish us. The grivers will come and they will kill you."

She was tied up to the post while Thomas was still down on the floor. "Oh, don't worry, I won't banish you and him, not after what this shank did in there. No," Gally shook his head, he grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled it. Raising me up in the process. I wanted to scream from the pain but I held it in, "Lana's the only one who'll be banished." He said as he started dragging me by the hair towards the gates.

I struggled, tossing myself from left to right, I could hear people shouting, Teresa and Newt's voice were the loudest ones. "LET HER GO!" "NO GALLY! STOP!" But he didn't listen, I looked up at him and saw a knife by his belt. I pushed myself to a position where I grabbed the knife. I held my head and cut my hair with the knife. It was sudden as it was painful.

What happened next happened in a blur, everything went by so quickly that I didn't even get to see it happen. Thomas was standing over a body while holding a spear pointed at Gally, Teresa was already free from her binds and was also holding a spear, Chuck was behind me with the luggage, Minho was pointing a spear at Alby, while Newt was beside me on the ground.

"Lana, are you alright?" I looked at him, Newt. I nodded and smiled at him, he hugged me tightly and smiled at me before helping me up. I could finally stand after all that, I looked at the ground and saw a bunch of hair strands on the ground as I gently touched my hair, I had cut it short. After Newt gave me a machete that was similar to his, I noticed the predicament that we were in.

Alby was slightly smiling, the rest of the Gladers were talking to each other while Gally was in the center, Thomas stepped forward "We're leaving the Glade as we planned. We could all be free, YOU could be free, all you have to do... Is follow us."

Gally turned to look at the Gladers "You're all going to die out there! There are Grievers out there that will kill you if you try to escape! Stay here in the Glade where it's safe." Minho scowled "Stay here and you'll die one by one till no one's left." The Gladers started arguing with each other, shouting, pushing, not knowing which side to choose.

The side where you could be free but you have to pass the horrifying Grievers to pass through an unknown passage, or, The side where you could stay in the Glade, the safe haven, but you would die one by one.

Alby shrugged "Since I'm the leader, I should choose first," he stepped forward until his neck was at the tip of Minho's spear, "I'll choose this side, Lana's right, you all need to learn the truth."

He looked at me and smiled, I nodded at Minho to move his spear away from Alby and he did. I saw Clint and the others walk towards us, grabbing a spear for self defense as they stood behind the group. The Builders and Gally were left, none of them flinched "You're going to kill all of them" Thomas shook his head "We're going to live Gally"

I frowned at the sight of my friends, "Please, come with us" I begged. Some of the builders mouthed "Sorry" while Gally stood there, looking at me. "Gally? Please, come with us... with me" He shook his head "I can't Lana, this is my home"

"Suit yourself" Thomas muttered before turning to face Newt and Minho, now that everyone was gathered right in front of us, waiting for our instructions. "There's fourty-one of us" Newt called out. I looked at Alby, Minho had given him a bow and arrow, he looked like himsef again, but there was something off.

"Shouldn't someone give a pep talk or something?" Minho asked us, Newt shrugged "Go ahead" He nodded and faced everyone else "Be careful," he crossed his arms "Don't die" I rolled my eyes at him, Newt did the same as he said "Great, we're all bloody inspired," he pointed to the maze

"You all know what to do. Tonight we make a stand. Tonight we're asking the fight back to the Creators. Tonight the Grievers better be scared!" Everyone cheered like thunder, Newt thrust his weapon to the air, yelling "Hear that, Creators! We're coming!"

We all roared as we ran into the maze, I looked back and saw Gally and the others with a frown on their faces. I didn't like that we were going to leave them, but I didn't want my friends to die.

"Lana, let's go" Newt held my hand as we raced into the maze, turning left and right, what scared me the most was not knowing how far we had to go before actually being free. Thomas and Minho were ahead of us but were keeping a steady pace for us to catch up. Every now and then Newt and I would stop for a moment for him to take a breather, his limp was causing him to tire very quickly.

But stopping made us see how the non-runners were doing, we would help them and encourage them to keep on moving. Chuck, being the youngest and chubbiest, would fall behind. "Are you alright?" I asked, he stopped running and was sweating like crazy "Yeah, just... need... to... rest..." he said between breaths.

"We'll wait until you feel better" Newt patted his back, Chuck nodded. After a while, we all started running again, they weren't that far and caught them when they entered a long alley way.

Thomas and Minho finally stopped, Newt and I reached he front and heard Minho moan "Oh no." he shook his head "Oh no." Then we heard it, the horrifying sounds of a Griever, they were just there, right in front of the exit. Minho peeked through the vines "A dozen... Maybe fifteen. They're just waiting for us!" I could hear the others whispering all the way to the back, I could see each of their expressions, they were scared. Even Newt, I noticed from his voice when he said "Well, we knew we'd have to fight"

I tightened my grip on my machete and bit my lip, I was scared too. I could feel my legs shaking as the color from my face faded, Newt probably noticed because he grabbed my free hand and held it tightly. Everyone was silent, a few cusses here and there, the sound of people breathing and shaking filled the air. I looked at Thomas and saw that he was pale, he had to go through the plan, he had to be the one.

A loud sound from behind made us jump, I could hear the gladers in the back swearing louder and louder, Zart shouted from behind "They're coming from the back!" and he was right, I looked over and saw a couple of Grievers blocking our way of going back. "Shuck!" I looked at the front and saw that more Grievers appeared, all of them blocking the way to the exit. "We're trapped" Thomas muttered.

 **Hello lovelies, As you may have noticed, this chapter is mostly based off the book, especially the maze part. That's because I love this scene so much that I couldn't change it as much. This is only a fanfiction story about my version of Maze Runner, James Dashner owns every bit of it except my character, some scenes and the parts that Wes Ball owns. I love these two.**

 _Next Chapter:_

 _"The Maze Trials"_

 _Everything was getting blurry, my head was starting to feel light headed when I saw Gally appear from behind us with a knife and a woman beside him. "Shit" I cursed, holding onto the deep wound on my side._


	8. The Maze Trials

_~The Maze Trials~_

We were surrounded, both the front and the back of the group had Grievers, waiting for us to screw up. I hated the anticipation of whether or not they would ambush us. Do we make our first move?

Should Thomas go ahead with his plan to become a human sacrifice? I looked at him and saw that he was in deep thought. Everyone else was either panicking or thinking of a way out of this mess.

I could see Newt from the corner of my eye, he was biting his lip. What should I do? I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Alby with a smile on his face.

"Alby? What's wrong?" He shook his head "I'm sorry Lana, but it looks like we won't be able to have that talk" I titled my head "What are you talking about? Of course we will! We just have to get through the grievers-"

Before I could say anything else, Alby ran towards the Grievers, Newt saw him "Alby? Hey! Get back here!" "ALBY!" we both shouted, he looked back and shouted "Newt! Take care of Lana!" The Gladers started shouting, begging for him to turn back.

Alby was attacked by five or more Grievers in a blur, he didn't even scream when his body was torn apart. I saw Newt make a run for it until Thomas caught him by the arms and pulled him back, "Let go!" Newt screamed, "Are you nuts?! There's nothing you can do!" Thomas shouted at him.

I closed my eyes and turned away, not wanting to see the gruesome sight of Alby's death. I could hear everything, the sound of bones cracking annd metal clanging. Newt gave up and collapsed on the ground, I bent down beside him and held him in my arms.

Thomas lifted Newt back up, I could hear Newt whisper in denial "I can't believe it" gripped the handle of my machete, I wanted to charge at them, make they pay for killing Alby. Even though we weren't that close, I felt this strong heartbreaking connection after losing him.

Minho gripped Thomas' and Newt's shoulders "We can't waste what he did, we have to fight them and make a path for you, Lana and Teresa" he looked at me, I nodded in agreement. Thomas and I were to guard Teresa while everybody made a path, Newt agreed to the plan since he didn't want me in the front lines.

Thomas nodded as well "They should be frozen for a while, it'll take a minute to type the words", Newt murmured "How can you guys be so heartless?" I didn't say anything, I didn't know what to say to comfort him.

Minho went close to him "You want to dress up and hold a funeral?" Newt looked away from the Grievers that seemed to be eating Alby's corpse, I wanted to puke at the sight but kept it in. Minho continued "Alby freaking sacrificed himself for us, we'd be heartless if we wasted his efforts"

Newt sighed, Minho gathered everyone into a circle, "Main objective is to protect and make sure that Thomas, Lana and Teresa get to that do-" he was cut off y the sounds of the Grievers coming back to life, it's spikes and instruments were pointed towards us. We didn't make it.

Newt grabbed my arm "Stay close to Thomas, don't leave his side no matter what!" he pulled and kissed my forehead, I nodded "Stay safe" I whispered, Newt turned to Minho "Take the lead" the boy's face became stern and serious "Fight through the middle, push the shucking things towards the walls! Remember our main objective!"

"Ready... NOW!" He didn't wait for us to answer as he charged in, Newt let go of my hand and followed Minho, all of the other Gladers followed suit, Thomas stopped Chuck and said that we needed him more. I couldn't argue with Thomas' decision, I didn't want Chuck to get hurt either.

The others managed to make an opening, we ran for it. The sounds of boys screaming and metal against metal made my blood pump in adrenaline, everything was a blur, I could see blood and oil everywhere.

I felt a sudden pain on my leg, the Grievers knew what we were doing and they wanted to stop us. I turned around, we were a few meters away from the door, "Lana!" Thomas screamed, "Don't stop! Keep going!"

A Griever came out of nowhere and started snapping it's instruments at me, I had a machete and a spear in both of my hands. I suddenly remembered my lessons with Gally and the others, don't die, I told myself.

"Come at me!" I shouted, suddenly Minho was beside me "What are you doing?!" "I can't let those three get hurt!" The Griever swung it's instruments under our legs, hoping to topple us over, but we jumped and ran towards it.

I stabbed it and sliced it with my weapons while Minho jumped on top of it and buried his spear deep inside of it. He jumped back down before the Griever died, another one was approaching so he grabbed his spear from the dead machine. "There's too many of them!"

I looked behind me and saw that Teresa was already typing in the words but Thomas was fighting a Griever. Chuck was behind Teresa, guarding her just in case something unexpected happened. "Hurry up!" Minho shouted.

The next Griever tried gabbing me with it's claws, I dodged it and stabbed it with my spear until it came off. Minho saw and did the same to it's other claw, I slashed it's side, letting the goo splash all over me.

After that one died, I ran over to where Newt was, "Lana?! What the bloody he-" "Save it for later!" he didn't say any more as we stabbed the Griever to the ground. I heard the horrifying sound of a boy screaming, my head instinctly turned to look.

The sight was horrifying, the boy was in it's clutches and was thrown into the air, only to land on the spikes at the Griever's back; I saw arrows being shot at it and saw that Winston had Alby's bow, I followed and helped him take the Griever down.

More others were dying around me as I fought, I have never felt so useless in my entire life! I ran and fought one Griever after another, the thought of people dying around me made me sick! The thought of Newt dying made my stomach turn. That was one sight that I didn't want to see in my entire life.

"LOOK OUT!" I heard Newt shout, I suddenly felt a pain in the side of my stomach, "LANA!" Newt screamed, was I... stung? The sound of the Grievers shutting down and the doors opening made everyone release a breath that they were holding.

The instrument of the Griever that stung me retreated back to it's lifeless body as I dropped down to the ground. I felt numb, no pain at all, was this what it was like? Where was the pain that everybody felt?

Newt and Minho rushed to my side, "Lana! No..." Newt shook his head "We don't have any other vile" his voice was heartbreaking. "I'm fine" he shook his head, Minho grabbed him "We need to get Lana out of here and find another antidote!" Newt's eyes widened and stood up, Minho was stronger and had more stamina than Newt, so he carried me through the door, together with the other Gladers.

Even though it was a sting, the blood didn't stop dripping down. Apparently, we lost half of the boys, everything was a mess. We entered the dark corridor, after a while, Minho suddenly let go of me, well more like dropped down under me.

We screamed as we slid down what seemed to be a slide, it was like a slippery slide from a carnival, until we landed that is. We all landed on top of each other, scrambling back to our feet. The light blinded our eyes until we adjusted them, the room was huge.

There were strange pods around us in the giant white room, there was a door near us, some tried to open it but it was locked, I was still on the gound but I sat up, trying to gain my balance.

Newt helped me up as someone shouted "Look!" Directly in front of us, there were people behind a glass wall, they were observing us, every single move we made was being written down by them. The Creators.

Thomas and the others were talking, but I couldn't concentrate properly when the blood didn't stop. My concentration broke when a loud beeping sound echoed in the room, I covered my ears as Newt did the same. When it stopped, everyone looked at the door.

Everything was getting blurry, my head was starting to feel light headed when I saw a boy appear from behind us with a woman beside him. "Shit" I cursed, holding onto the deep wound on my side. The blood loss was started to be a little too much.

Newt was right beside me, trying to help me keep my balance. He had his hand over mine, pressing on to it to stop the bleeding. I wasn't paying attention to their conversation, Newt was even talking but all I heard was a blurry mix of voices. "Congratulations on passing the Maze trials"

I looked at the boy, he was quiet until the woman pulled off his hood, it was Gally. "Gally?" my voice strained. His eyes were red and he was pale, did he get stung? I looked at the woman and furrowed my brows, she looked familiar, she sounded familiar.

Our eyes met, she gave a slight smile "Hello Ms. Lana, I see that you have survived the Maze trials as well, congratulations" she met my eyes "But I see that you are still struggling, good thing I brought this" the woman tossed a vile to Newt, he quickly eyed her "If you want Ms. Lana to survive, I suggest you use it Mr. Newton" He turned to Thomas, who nodded in agreement.

Newt held his breath and injected the vile into me, the pain that wasn't there before suddenly came, I screamed and lost my energy to move, I was just a working mind in a useless body. I could tell that Newt was panicking when I started screaming and gripping his shirt.

"I'm okay... I'm okay" I whispered so that only he could hear, newt nodded and looked back at the woman, "There is, of course, one final Variable"

Gally looked like he was choking "They... can control me... I don't-" his hand went to his neck, as if someone had a grip on it, "I... don't want to..." he was changing, it wasn't like alby's either, he was being controlled.

He held up the knife "Gally? What are you doing?" I shouted, Gally seemed to frown when he looked at me "I'm... sorry Lana" he reared back and threw the knife at Thomas. Everything else went by so quickly, suddenly, Chuck was on the ground, bleeding.

Chuck had taken the knife that was meant for Thomas, it was buried deep into the boy's chest. He screamed and fell on the floor; The dark crimson blood poured out of the wound, he started coughing out blood, Thomas quickly went to his side, "Chuck!" everyone shouted in despair.

I buried my face in Newt's shirt as we cried, "No... Please not Chuck" I whimpered, I could hear Thomas begging for the little boy to hang on and fight it. Chuck's last words were "Find my mom... Tell her..." tell her what? I wanted to ask.

But nothing came after that, he closed his eyes as he drew his last breath.

Thomas stood up and ran towards Gally, he started choking him at first, "Stop..." I whispered, Thomas then straddled him and started punching. Gally didn't even fight back and just took the beating, "Please, stop him!"

Newt gently placed me down on the floor as he and Minho grabbed Thomas and pulled him away, Gally was lying still on the ground, beaten and bloodied. Thomas suddenly came to and ran back to Chuck's lifeless body.

He cradled him as if he had lost a brother, shaking his head "No! No!" Teresa tried comforting him, "I promised him!" he chanted over and over again. Newt was back beside me, I hugged him as I felt his body shake.

"All things happen for a reason in their own time" the woman broke the silence, I looked at her "Who are you?" She smiled at me "You will find out soon enough Ms. Lana, like I said all things happen for a purpose in their own time." I shook my head "That's not what I wanted to kno-"

I was cut off when a bunch of men and women dressed in army clothing came bursting in through the door, one tackled the woman and shot her, she was dead. Newt grabbed my hand, my head was still spinning.

I could hear the screams of the Creators and the gun shots of the soldiers, one man came over and told us to follow him like our life depended on it. One female soldier saw me and Newt, she noticed the wound and called for assistance.

Newt didn't leave my side, even when one of them carried me to safety, Newt still held my hand. We reached the outside, it was dark and the rain was pouring. We entered the bus, a medic started patching me up and giving me medicine, Newt said words to comfort me.

I could hear the wailing of women, children, men and elderly alike, saying "Save us!' "Don't believe them!" "The flare will kill us all!"

The bus ran on a tremendous speed, as if it was running from something terrible. Newt didn't leave my side for the entire trip, Thomas and Teresa sat beside us and they asked a woman about what was happening.

She explained it to us, about the Sun flares, the Ecosystem, the effects oof the flare and that WICKED was experimenting on orphaned children. That their sole mission is to stop WICKED at any cost and their hopes of the gladers to join them.

We entered a place called the Scorch, it was just heat and dust everywhere with people consumed by the flares roaming around. My brain couldn't handle anymore of this, "Lana, you need to sleep" my head rested on Newt's lap, he probably noticed that I was still awake.

"Sorry" he smiled and held my hand "I just can't help but think about what will happen" he shook his head and brushed the hair off my face "Don't worry about anything for now, I'll be right here when you wake up" I nodded and closed my eyes, I didn't really notice how tired I was until i did.

Hey guys! Thanks for reading this chapter, hopefully I'll be posting the next chapter soon. It will be based on the TST book, so if you haven't read it or you dont want to be spoiled, don't read past this chapter!

Tumblr - for those who have Tumblr, my username is Ryuya Lana, I write imagines there about Robbie Kay, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Logan Lerman and Dylan O'brien, (Still planning on expanding the list)

Teen Wolf Fans - I wrote a story about Season 4 of Teen Wolf, its about Liam Dunbar. It's the same concept as this story, keeping the plot but changing it to soomething a little bit different. If you guys want to check it out, please look at my works called "Sweet Lullaby"

OUAT Fans - I'm planning on writing a fanfiction based on a imagine that I made, set after Peter Pan was "Killed" by Rumple, he finds himself in an unknown place and meets Merida

Game of Thrones Fans - I'm planning on writing a story about Bran Stark, same concept as this, I'll just add my own character and change the story to match it. Stay tuned!

 _Next chapter:_

 _"The Scorch Trials"_

 _My eyes adjusted to the blinding light above my head, a shadow of a woman came, her voice was different but so familiar, like her voice was the only thing that I really wanted to hear. "You need to survive the Scorch Trials, Lana, you need to find "the Guardian""_


	9. The Scorch Trials

_~The Scorch Trials~_

 _"How are they?" I heard a voice ask behind me, he leaned in to look at my screen and took notes, "They're fine... We lost some of them though" My eyes trailed back to the screen in front of me._

 _There were different video feeds on my screen, "What about His scans?" there was a hint of sadness in his voice. I frowned and looked at my own notes, "He's depressed... At this rate, he might actually kill himself"_

A sudden pain made me jump awake from my sleep, my eyes blinked, trying to adjust to the spot light in front of me. I lifted my hand to cover my eyes when I noticed the tubes inserted in the veins of my hand. "W-" What?

My voice was gone, what's happening?!, I remembered my dream, that was a dream, right? I wonder who were we talking about... I sighed and turned my head and I noticed that I was in a dark room, with only the spotlight to let me see my surroundings.

I was lying down on a metal bed, like the ones they use for hospitals. I tried to recall what had happened before I fell asleep. I remember fighting the Grievers, Alby d-died, I got stung... My hand unconsciously reached for the wound, it was wrapped in bandages.

It didn't hurt anymore. I sighed in relief, I remembered Gally and that woman... Gally killed Chuck, I held back the tears that were threatening to fall. I remembered soldiers coming in and killing the Woman and the other Creators, we went into a bus, someone explained what was actually happening and I fell asleep on Newt's lap...

Newt! My eyes widened, I tried to sit up but before I could sit, the door opened. I immediately laid back down and closed my eyes, I could hear footsteps coming closer "Is she awake yet?" It was the sound of a woman, not like the one I heard back in the maze, but her voice was so familiar. "Indeed she is" a man spoke in a peculiar tone that made me irritated.

"Leave me with her" she commanded, I didn't even hear the man reply but I did hear the door close. I felt the Woman near me, "Lana" Unlike her commanding tone just a minute ago, her voice sounded like sweet honey, "Lana, I know you're awake... I know that you have no memory of who you are and who I am... "

She sounded sad, regretful even, "But I want you to trust me. You have passed the first of the maze trials, but there will be more up ahead, so you must find him." She paused, as if she chose her words carefully in her mind before saying "You must find "the Guardian.""

The Guardian? I wanted to open my eyes, but i stopped myself, be cautious Lana. I heard the Woman sigh, she brushed a stand of hair off my face and then the next thing I knew, the door opened and closed.

I opened my eyes, who was she? I sat up and noticed that there were clothes on a table. I wore the comfy pants, shoes and a white tank top. I walked around the room slowly, the wound was preventing me to move as fast.

I looked at the mirror and sighed, I completely forgot about my hair. I groaned at the memory of me cutting it off to escape from Gally's grasp. I stared at myself, my hair rested unevenly on my shoulders. Well, I can't do anything about it now... I suddenly remembered what the Woman said.

There will be more trials ahead of us? But I thought we were finally free... I turned to the door and noticed a note, "Please head to the common area, it's three doors to your right, the others are waiting for you"

I smiled and opened the door, I hope that everyone was alright. I slowly made my way to the room, my side leaning to the wall for slight support. I noticed that at the sides were lockers.

But I didn't pay much attention to them when I felt another sudden pain in my head, the pounding feeling made it difficult to breathe, I slid down the floor as the pain took over.

"Newt, you have to eat more than that" Minho scolded Newt, the boy didn't want to eat, not while Lana was somewhere suffering. A few minutes after she slept, Lana started thrashing and screaming just like Alby when he was stung, Newt and the others held her down until the bus stopped moving.

Doctors came and took her away, Newt wasn't allowed to go with her. Even though they were clean, dressed in comfortable clothes, and a bunch of food in front of them, he still thought that it didn't feel right.

He could tell that everyone was tired, everyone was quiet, a few words here and there but not enough to distract Newt. He also noticed Thomas' behavior, the guy's torturing himself.

He couldn't get over Chuck's death, Newt's known Chuck since he first arrived in the Glade, poor boy, he was the youngest out of all of them. How could the Creators send a kid there? Newt was sad as well, but he knew that what's done is done.

Newt shook his head, Teresa managed to got him to eat a little when he said that Lana wouldn't be happy if he starved himself, so he ate bread but anything more than that, Newt would always say no.

Teresa bit her apple and swallowed, "They did say that you could visit her when you're done with supper... I guess you can go now" Newt jumped from his seat and casually walked to the door. Obviously excited and worried for her at the same time.

 _They said that another kid was joining us, I looked around and saw the small bundles of kids, sleeping on their beds while I stared at the door, waiting for the newcomer._

 _The door creaked open and the white light came in together with a silhouette of a little boy, probably the same age as me. I hopped out of my bed and smiled at him, "My name is Lana," my small voice startled him "What's yours?"_

My eyes slowly opened once more, only to meet with another pair of beautiful eyes. He sighed in relief "Thank God... Don't scare me like that" I touched his cheek and smiled at him, "Newt".

That little boy in my dream, no, memory, was Newt. "Yeah?" I shook my head "Nothing" Newt smiled, he hugged me tightly "What were you doing out of your room?"

"The note said that I could see you guys in the common area" I pointed to the door I was near to, Newt nodded "Yeah, we were eating in there... C'mon, you must be hungry" I didn't even notice my hunger until he mentioned it.

"Starving" Newt helped me up and guided me by the hand towards the room. As soon as he opened the door, Teresa stood up and ran towards me, Newt immediately raised his hand "Don't! The wound still hurts" Teresa stopped, I frowned, "I'm fine Newt; besides, it's Teresa"

I opened my arms and Teresa and I hugged each other with smiles on our faces. "I'm glad you're alright" she let me go and grabbed my hand "Let's eat!" She made me sit beside her and Newt was in front of me.

Minho smiled "Good thing you're here! Newt wouldn't eat without you!" Teresa quickly added "I managed to get him to eat a little" Thomas finally smiled and said "He was so worried about you" Newt shushed the three "Quiet you shanks!"

"Awww look daddy, our little Newtie's embarrassed" Thomas mused, and without missing a beat, Minho answered "I know mommy, Newt's so cute when Lana's around"

Teresa and I were trying to hold in our laughter when Newt snapped and started scolding the two idiots beside him. The rest of the Gladers laughed at the sight.

Newt smiled when he noticed that Thomas finally removed his mind off Chuck's death and when the other Gladers started chatting. As soon as Lana came, the room was filled smiles.

The gang told her what she missed as they ate their dinner, when one of the guards announced that it was time for lights out, they ushered everyone to their rooms.

The boys were all in one giant room, filled with bunk beds; Teresa was brought to her own room before she could say goodnight; while Lana was brought back to the clinic.

She noticed though that they had replaced her metal table with a comfy single bed, a doctor and a nurse checked her status before they left her to sleep, saying that her wound wont hurt tomorrow.

But she didn't want to sleep, she secretly wished that she didn't have to feel that pain whenever she slept or collapse. It's been a long day, her mind told her, she was tired. Very tired.

Today was still the same day that we escaped from the Maze and fought those Grievers. She could feel her eye lids becoming heavy until she finally gave in and slept.

Hours had already passed when Newt woke up from the sound of someone groaning, his eyes widened when he saw that the windows had people infected by the flare, trying to grab the sleeping boys through the bars.

He threw his pillow towards the other bed where Minho was, but even with the pillow, he didn't wake up. "Bloody hell" he muttered under his breath, Newt slowly got out of his bed to wake up the boy next to him.

He reached up towards the upper bunk bed, silently enough not to wake Thomas up.

"Minho... Minho, wake up you bloody shank" Minho's eye slightly opened "Shucking hell Newt, what do you want?" he grumbled. Before Newt could reply, he heard one of the boys shout "What the shuck!"

The two looked and saw that the boys were now waking up. The boys that were sleeping by the window had now moved, Frypan got up and started pointing at the scene.

Newt tried to open the door, behind it was the room they were eating in earlier, he twisted it but to no avail. The door was indeed locked. Minho went to check up on the other Gladers while Newt looked for a way out.

Thomas had already woken up, all they needed to do was get out. You could hear the man's cry "I'm a Crank! I'm a bloody Crank! Kill me! Kill me!"

Newt didn't eve listen to the 'Crank' anymore and started ramming the door, wanting to go to where Lana was, hoping that she was safe from the Cranks.

Since he wasn't strong enough, Newt decided to talk to Minho and Thomas; "Where's Newt?" He heard Thomas ask, "Right here" Newt looked at him, his face has gone pale as if he's seen a ghost.

"What's goin' on?" Newt shrugged "No bugging clue, I woke up and they were already there" More 'Cranks' started appearing, trying to grab one of the boys through the barred Windows.

All of the boys had already evacuated to the side of the wall where the 'Cranks' wouldn't reach them. "The door's locked" Newt informed as Minho tried to open the door "Well now I know why they named you after Isaac Newton, you're so intelligent"

Newt didn't even bother with Minho, he was so used to his insults that it meant nothing to him, "We need something to open this with" A boy shouted from the back "There's a fire extinguisher here!"

"Pass it forward!" Seconds later, the fire extinguisher was already in Newt's grasp, he hit the door knob and with a crunch, the door knob fell off.

When the door opened, they noticed the dark black hallway ahead of them, even with the light coming from their room, they couldn't see a thing.

Minho took a deep breath and went in first, Newt followed suit into the darkness, he heard Minho grunt up ahead "Careful, there are weird things hanging from the ceiling" Newt suddenly felt a pain on his waist "Table! Be careful of the tables"

Newt could hear Thomas ask "Does anyone know where are the light switches are? " Newt shouted "That's where I'm heading now... I remember seeing the light switch somewhere" Newt went ahead, holding on to the wall for guidance.

Some of them would hit the table and groan in pain, some would even feel something in front of them but since it was too dark, they didn't really pay much attention to them.

When Newt turned on the lights, everyone stopped moving when they noticed what was right in front of them. The people that helped them escape were hanging from the ceiling on a noose.

Newt wanted to puke from the sight, but then he remembered Lana. He panicked and checked each of the bodies, making sure that Lana wasn't among them.

Minho told him over and over that she wasn't there. But he didn't listen until he had seen all of the bodies.

When he finished checking them, he sighed in relief but then left immediately to go to her room, the rest of the Gladers followed, not wanting to spend another moment in the room full of dead people.

He remembered where the room was, "Newt wait!" Minho called out, but he didn't listen, Newt knocked on her door and tried to open it, "It's locked" he and the others rammed into it "Lana! Are you okay?!" Newt screamed, hoping that she would hear him.

 _I ran. Left, right, no matter where I went, they were always there to find me and bring me back. "No! Let me go! I want to see my daddy!" The guard sighed and carried my small body, "You know why we can't let you do that"_

 _I tossed and resisted him like the child I was, "You don't want your mom to get mad now do you?" I frowned as he mention my mom. I was silent until we entered the room where the other kids were, this was the room where we were being tested in._

The loud banging on my door made me jump from my sleep, "Lana! Are you okay?!" I heard Newt shout from the other side of my door, I stood up, turned on the light and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge, "Newt, I can't open the door!" I shouted back at him.

"Step back!" Minho shouted, a few more bangs and the door burst open. Newt came running in and suddenly hugged me, "I'm glad you're safe" he sighed in relief, we separated "I'm fine... What's going on?" they all stared at me until Thomas said, "You don't know?"

"There aren't any windows in here" Clint pointed it out to them, I looked around, no there weren't any windows. Just a vent to keep the air coming in the room, "I see, Newt tell her what's going on while we look for Teresa!"

Thomas ordered before leaving the room. We followed him, knowing that he knew where Teresa's room was, I frowned "Newt, did something happen?" he looked at me and frowned as well, "The people that helped us are dead" I didn't hide my shock. "I woke up and saw those, Cranks, try to grab us."

"Cranks?" he nodded "The people infected by the flare, that's what they called themselves." Newt held my hand as we walked in the common area, I covered my free hand over my mouth. The sight made my stomach turn, I didn't want to look anymore.

"I found it!" Thomas shouted, we were in front of a door, it had a sign that said "Teresa Agnes, Group A. Subject A1 - The Betrayer" Seeing this sign however didn't faze me like it did to the others. Since I already knew about her title.

I heard Minho point out why no one asked about the title, The Betrayer. I spoke up "Teresa already had that when we were in the maze" They looked at me, I quickly turned around and set aside my short hair to reveal the mark on the back of my neck.

Newt read it aloud "Subject WCKD1 - The Light?" I turned back to face him "What does that mean?" I shook my head "I don't know"

Jeff stared at it and said "Why don't you have a 'Group' on you?" We all went silent, why don't I have a 'Group' on me? Thomas seemed to snap "Can we talk about this later?"

After we were silent, Thomas banged on Teresa's door, "Teresa!" he called out, "Someone pass me the fire extinguisher!" On cue, Winston came running with the fire extinguisher.

They broke the door knob and Thomas rushed inside, "Teresa!" We all heard the sound of a toilet flushing. Thomas was about to enter until Newt stopped him.

"You're used to living with boys, Teresa is a girl" I smiled and moved towards the door "Good thing I'm a girl then"

I heard Newt and Minho order them to settle down as I opened the bathroom door. The next thing I knew, I was pinned to the wall with a boy standing in front of me. "Who are you?!" I shouted at him.

Newt must have heard me because he came rushing in together with Thomas and Minho.

"Who am I? You're the one who came into my room, I should be asking you that." I looked at him, he had dark hair, light brownish colored eyes and was slightly taller than me.

"Let her go" Newt commanded, but the boy didn't listen and gripped my wrists tighter, "Who are you people?!" The boy asked.

"We're looking for our friend, a girl named Teresa" I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes when Thomas mention Teresa, but it was so fast that I wasn't even sure if it happened.

"I'm Lana, can you please let me go now?!" I was getting impatient, and I could tell that Newt wanted to punch him by the look on his face. When the boy let go me, Newt grabbed me and hid me behind his back.

The boy scratched the back of his head "Sorry about that... I'm Aris"

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Notes"_  
 _It wall started with that note "Nothing is as it seems" then everything started to go to hell. For three days straight, every time we encountered a note, a new disaster happened. We had to open our eyes to survive._


	10. Notes

_~Notes~_

"Sorry about that... I'm Aris" he sheepishly answered. There was a sudden commotion outside that Minho had to step out to explain what had happened.

Thomas stood in front of him "Well Aris, what happened to the girl that used to be in this room?" Aris' expression suddenly changed.

"As you can clearly see, there isn't any girl here besides Lana over here." He wasn't sarcastic but was much more serious. But unfortunately, Thomas wasn't happy with that answer.

He pointed to the direction of the door and shouted "That plate outside says Teresa Agnes! Not some shank named Aris!"

Newt scowled "Thomas! Calm the bloody hell down." He turned to Aris "There's a lot more of us outside and only one of you. Now tell us how you got here." Aris crossed his arms across his chest and furrowed his brows.

He looked confused for a moment, I poked out from behind Newt, still hand in hand and asked him "Can you please tell us how you got here?" in the sweetest voice that I could do.

Aris looked at me with a smile, Newt tightened his grip on my hand, Aria sighed "Look guys, I don't know what you're talking about. They brought me to this room last night and slept, I woke up a few minutes ago to take a piss. I've never heard of Teresa Agnes in my life, sorry."

Minho opened the bathroom door and asked "Who placed you here?" Aris shrugged "Some soldiers that rescued us"

We all looked at each other before I finally asked, "Rescued you from what?" Aris frowned and faced the floor, he spoke in a broken tone, "From the maze"

The silence was unbearable. They moved from the bathroom to the main room where everyone else was seated, Aris was a bit taken aback but eventually adapted.

Frypan, Jack and Clint came back with frowns on their faces as soon as they exited the bathroom. Minho "We're you able to find her room?" the three shook their heads. Apparently, Minho sent the three to look for food and supplies while they were talking to Aris earlier.

Thomas stood up from his seat and confronted the four, "Did you check the other rooms!?" Frypan sighed "There aren't any other rooms" Clint frowned "There isn't even an entrance or an exit"

Thomas punched the wall and shouted "THEN HOW THE SHUCK DID WE GET HERE?!" Minho placed a hand on his shoulder, "Calm down. You won't be able to find Teresa if you're angry"

He didn't even listen to Minho as he raced out of the room into the common room. Newt already knew what he was doing, he was checking the bodies for Teresa, because that's exactly what Newt did a couple of moments ago.

Everyone was seated in the small room, whispering, not making too much noise. Minho and Newt had a small gathering with Frypan, Jack and Clint; Aris sat on a chair at the corner of the room, watching them as they moved; While Lana roamed around.

The first thing she noticed was that, like her room, there were no windows. Only a vent for the air to come in. Why didn't both of their rooms have windows while the boys' room had a gigantic one?

She wondered as she sat back down beside Newt. They were cut off when Thomas came back into the room, slamming the door as he sighed. He then slowly sat down and faced Aris. "In the maze, you were the only boy surrounded by girls"

Aris' eyes widened and nodded, "Ye-Yeah" Thomas continued as everyone listened, "You were brought up in the maze with a note that said you were the last one" Aris nodded again "Wait, how did you-"

"They called you the Trigger" Aris stood up in shock, "Why do you know all this?!" Newt commented "Its the same as us" Thomas continued.

"Did another boy come up to the maze after you did?" Aris furrowed his brows "No, why? Did another girl come up to yours?" Everyone was silent until Lana spoke "Yeah, me."

As soon as Lana spoke, a loud beeping sound made everyone's eyes widen, it was the alarm when they were in the Glade but this one was different, the lights flickered on and off as the ground started to shake. "Earthquake!" Everyone panicked, Thomas tried to open the door but it didn't budge, "It's locked!" "How in the bloody hell can that be locked?! We just broke it!"

"How the shuck should I know!?" "Quiet the two of you!" Minho shouted, "Everyone! Cover your heads, move to the walls and get down!" Everyone followed, Newt pulled Lana towards the door and hugged her in his arms, shielding her head with his hands.

The shaking got stronger, you could hear the cries and the swears of the glades "We're gonna die!" "Oh Shuck!", "Nobody move! Wait until it stops!" Newt shouted when he saw that Winston was about to run try the door again. Lana placed her hands on Newt's head, trying to cover him too.

Minutes passed as the shaking stopped and the alarm ended. Everyone sighed and relaxed, Newt and Lana heard a click sound coming from the door. Lana reached up and turned the knob, the door's open.

An earthquake. It never occurred to me that we could experience that here. When I turned the knob and opened the door, Newt and I couldn't help but not move. "What's wrong?" I heard Thomas ask, I exited the room for the others to see. The common room, which earlier had the hanging bodies of the people that saved us, was now clean. How clean? The bodies aren't here anymore.

No smell, no marks, no ropes, no bodies, nothing. It was like it never happened. "Wait. What the shuck is going on here?" Frypan exclaimed as we looked around the room. "Hey guys! I found something!" Jeff shouted, we all gathered around him as he pointed to the singular plate on the table with a folded note on it.

"Oh great, what is it this time?" Minho picked up the letter and read it aloud, _"Nothing is as it seems"_

I looked around the room, "The people here... They weren't real" The Gladers stared at me like I was crazy. Jack shook his head "Impossible, they felt and looked real" I knitted my brows

"Then they weren't dead at the very least" Thomas rubbed his chin, Clint disagreed "I checked their pulses, if they were real, their pulses didn't show any sign of life."

"You guys don't understand! That earthquake probably wasn't real either!" I tried to explain "Nothing is as it seems" Newt and Minho stayed quiet and listened to the theory. Thomas muttered "Lana's idea makes sense. How do you expect them to disappear in less than five minutes if they were dead during that earthquake?"

Newt nodded "I see, so the earthquake was a diversion for them to leave?" I nodded "But something seems off" "What?" I sit on the chair and sighed "Why would the soldiers that saved us from WICKED, do something like this?" "Another test" I looked up at Aris as he spoke, he was silent ever since the earthquake started but I needed him to talk.

"A test?" Gradually, the Gladers, including Aris, took chairs and formed a circle. We started a Gathering. Thomas furrowed his brows "Why would they test us?" Minho chimed in "Yeah, I thought that we were done with WICKED and tests"

Aris shrugged "Well, it's only just a guess like Lana's." Newt leaned forward "The question is. Why would they put a warning note if they wanted to test us?"

"True, because of it, we concluded that they're testing us." I tapped my foot and mumbled the first thing that came to mind "Maybe they wanted to see how we adapted to the situation" no one spoke, everyone was busy thinking.

Frypan suddenly said, "Hey guys... Those Cranks stopped screaming" I listened carefully, he's right. We all decided to check the big room and found out that the barred window was now solid glass. No bars. "No way" Minho tapped the glass, Newt rubbed his temples "There's no way they could have taken away more than 20 bars and replaced it with solid glass in just five minutes"

Thomas nodded "Nothing is as it seems". We all decided to return to the common room to continue the gathering.

"What the hell is going on?" "I don't know either man!" I could hear some of the boys panicking, they have every right to. Minho noticed something and called Thomas, apparently, it was about Teresa's name plate in front of her door.

It changed to "Aris Jones, GroupB, Subject B1-The Partner" the two returned back to their seats.

I saw Minho clap his hands once to call our attention, "Leave that topic for later. We have a serious problem, there is no way in or out. That's good to keep out the Cranks outside. We also don't have any food, we can drink the tap water but we don't know how long we're stuck here and if there are going to be more trials, then we have to be prepared"

Newt nodded "Since we have no idea when the trials would start, we need to be ready at any time. Okay Shanks, time for bed. It's only 1AM, get some sleep." When Aris was about to return to his room, Thomas told him to grab his mattress and sleep in the big room.

Newt understood why, "Lana" I looked up at him, he was standing right in front of me as the others left. "Sleep with me" I almost fell out of my chair; Thomas, Aris and Jack heard him too. Jack whistled, Aris said to Thomas "What kind of relationship do they have?" I didn't hear Thomas because Newt's face was right in front of mine.

I couldn't help but blush, "Newt... Wha-" Newt's face suddenly turns red as his eyes grew. "Oh shuck. I didn't mean it like that!" He panicked, he was so cute, "I mean... I mean, sleep beside me! Cuz who knows what would happen to you if you were in a separate room"

I smiled and kissed his cheek "Sure" he rubbed the back of his neck nervously with a small grin on his face, "Alright" by the time we noticed our surroundings, the Gladers were already smiling at the two from the door way. Minho snickered "Show's over! Get some sleep you shanks!"

Newt and Jack shared a bunk and Jack didn't mind that I would sleep beside Newt.

After Aris brought in his mattress and positioned it near the window, and Newt grabbed my pillow and blanket, Minho turned off the light.

It was dark. I could hear the sounds of the Gladers sleeping, I couldn't sleep. Mainly its because Newt was beside me. He positioned himself to sleep on his side, not facing me. While I faced him.

I suddenly recalled what had just happened, everything was happening too fast and there wasn't any time to let it sink in. I sighed, "What's wrong?" I heard him whisper.

"I can't sleep" I whispered back. It took him a couple of seconds until he decided to face me. I couldn't see his face in the dark, but I knew he was frowning. "What are you thinking about?" He asked as he grabbed my left hand and started playing with my fingers.

"Everything" I sighed once more. I felt his hands wrap around me and pull me closer to him. If the lights were on, you'd probably say that I'm as red as a tomato. My heart felt like it would jump out of my chest as he held me close.

"Sleep love, we can worry about this tomorrow. Just rest here with me" I nodded my head and tried to relax, I started listening to his heart beat as my head positioned on his chest. I felt his hand softy run through my hair.

"Goodnight Lana" he whispered in a tired tone, "Goodnight Newt... I-" the sound of his soft snore made me stop. Was I about to confess to him? Oh shuck. Sleep Lana! Sleep! I told myself as I tightly closed my eyes. And eventually fell asleep.

 _"That's wonderful! So small and beautiful" the woman praised the very first tiny beetle bug that I made. It wasn't like the others. It was silver. "You get to use it when the Trials have started" I nodded and smiled to the young blonde in front of me. Newt smiled back._

I woke up by the sound of Newt and Thomas talking. It wasn't enough to wake the others, just loud enough for them to hear each other.

I only heard "If it wasn't for her... i probably wouldn't be here" I gripped my pillow, I felt Newt lay down beside me, I immediately wrapped my arms around him and buried my head in his chest.

Newt didn't argue or push me away, he too wrapped his arms around me and again, pulled me closer, kissing the top of my head. "I love you" i said in a really soft voice.

His body jerked away, "Lana? How long have you been awake" I moved slightly to face him "Since you and Thomas were talking" I took a sharp breath "About what I said... I mean it. I really do love you Newt"

He moved a bit closer to my face and slowly kissed me. Not like a passionate or a peck. It was our first kiss, his soft lips pressed against mine as neither if us pulled away. I swear I could hear fireworks in the shocking background.

We separated for air, his face inches from mine, "I love you too"

"FINALLY!" I heard Minho, Thomas and some others exclaim. Newt hugged and pressed me to his chest as he hissed at the other boys "Get back to sleep you bloody shanks!" I could hear them chuckling like a bunch of school boys, Newt and I started giggling as well.

When the laughter died down, Newt pecked my lips with a grin "Goodnight love" "Goodnight" but that was it. I couldn't sleep anymore. Everything would have been fine until I heard it, the sound of water.

It was too dark to see, I couldn't tell where the sound of water was coming from. I shook Newt awake, when he did, he heard it too. I could hear Aris cry out "Cold! Cold! What the Stick?!"

Newt stood up and gasped "Bloody hell!" I sat up "What's wrong?" He turned on the light, I noticed that the room was flooded and the water wasn't going to stop any time soon. Newt noticed a letter on the door "Care for a little swim?" "WAKE UP! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"

By the time he shouted, the water had already reached the bottom bunk level. I could see Aris climbing on top of a bed beside Clint. When I noticed how high the water was, the sudden coldness made me jump, Newt grabbed my hand "Climb up to Jack!"

The boys were woken up by the cold water, making them yelp. The boys in the top bunk woke up from the noise. "Jack, take Lana!" Jack nodded and pulled me up, landing beside him "Thanks" he just nodded "No problem"

Thomas and Newt tried the door once more but it was stuck. The water was high enough to reach the top bunk, luckily the ceiling was high enough. Minho shouted "The window! Break the window!" Aris was the closest one so he swam and started banging on the window.

The others, including me, joined as well. There were two boys that couldn't swim, Frypan and Jack decided to help them. The freezing cold water made me shiver but my mind was in a state of panic to think about it. After a lot of pounds, we could hear the glass start to crack.

The water reached a level to where only our heads could get out before hitting the ceiling above. We would take turns hitting the window and going up for air, we we're running out of time.

Every time I punched the window, it felt like my hand would fall of from both the pain and the numbness effect from the cold water. I held my breath for as long as I could before heading up.

Newt appeared beside me, his face flushed red from holding his breath in, there was only less than five inches of air left before we reached the ceiling. "You okay?" He asked as soon as he saw me. I nodded before we both dived back in.

As soon as I got down, I noticed that Aris had been holding his breath for a really long time now. He looked as if he was struggling. I quickly grabbed him by the arm and dragged him above.

Once he was up, he started breathing heavily, "What did you do that for? I was so close!" I almost hit him but instead said "So you'd rather die from lack of oxygen then?" Before taking a deep breath and diving back down without listening to his response.

When we noticed that there wasn't any space left between the ceiling and the water, we didn't give up and kept on hitting the glass, not wanting to die without a fight as our last resolve.

With all the small glass particles chipping off the window, our knuckles bled, mine as well. The window finally cracked, causing the window to break into pieces and the water flow out.

The only problem was, the water would suck us out too. Before I knew it, someone grabbed my hand, I noticed that it was Aris. I saw that Frypan and the others had made a human chain.

I grabbed on to Newt and he grabbed Minho. Before Minho could grab Thomas, the current got stronger as it was leaving the room, Thomas missed Minho's hand.

The water was now at the center of the room, still reducing at a fast pace. "THOMAS!" We all shouted. But luckily he grabbed on to the side of the window frame, half of his body still out of the window.

We quickly tried to make the line longer, stretching our arms so that Minho could reach Thomas. "Grab my hand!" Minho shouted.

Thomas quickly grabbed Minho's hand as we pulled them back to safety. The water was now the same length as the bottom frame of the window, our bottom halves still submerged.

We looked at each other before cheering in delight. Newt immediately hugged me and sighed in relief "Thank God" I hugged him back. I looked around and noticed that everyone was soaking wet then I suddenly remembered "Is the door open?" I shouted.

Jack was the closest one, he managed to turn the knob and open the door, allowing all the left over water to escape the room. We noticed on one of the tables, another note.

"Remember, your actions will have consequences in the near and distant future"

"I'm starting to hate the person making these notes" Newt mumbled. Minho raised a brow "Just now?! I've been pissed at them since the first note. Seriously. Talk about vague as shu- no, screw it. Vague as fuck"

Newt turned to look at me, his expression turned from shock to embarrassment as he quickly took off his shirt and handed it to me "Wear it." I couldn't help but look at his body, sure he wasn't as muscular as the others were but his body showed all his hard work at the Glade.

I shook my head "You'll catch a cold" I saw the boys go back to the room, avoiding my gaze. Newt avoided my gaze as well "Please Lana. Wear. It" I looked down and noticed that my tank top was now see through and my bra was showing.

I blushed a bright red and wore Newt's shirt above mine. It was bigger than me so it hung around me. Newt sighed and smiled "Thank you" he nodded "Can't let those shanks see you like that now can I?"

He then sneezed. Newt avoided my piercing gaze "See." He started grinning, how could a person look so hot yet at so adorable at the same freaking time?!

Newt brought me to my old room, the clinic "You should rest, it's been a long morning for us"

It was only 4AM. Geez, we only had a few hours of sleep before getting thrown into a death trap. I furrowed my brows and bit my lip, "Newt, what do you think the next one is?" He shrugged, we were both on the bed and he leaned on the wall as I lay down on his lap.

"Dunno, set fire to the building maybe?" I shook my head "Everything's too wet for fire to spread in the room" he placed his hand on top of my eyes "Dont stress, think about it tomorrow, you need the rest"

I remembered him saying that to me before back in the maze. I smiled "Okay... I love you" Newt withdrew his hand and kissed the top of my nose "I love you too"

 **Hello lovelies! I don't know how, but I made this longer than I had intended this to be, honestly, this was supposed to be longer but I decided to put it in the next chapter instead.**

 **I love you guys! See you in the next chapter!**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"The Sacrifice"_

 _When we read the next note, we didn't know what to expect or what to do._  
 _"Sacrifice the one who doesn't belong and the others would be spared"_  
 _The one who doesn't belong. Was it Aris, for being in a different group? Was it Thomas, for being the variable that was supposed to die? Or... was it me?_


	11. The Sacrifice

_~The Sacrifice~_

 _"Are you sure about this?" The lady in front of me smiled "Why of course dear! The more challenges, the better!" I frowned. "I-I understand." I typed in the code as three letters came out. E-F-C._

The rumbling in my stomach made wake up. It was hard to sleep without eating, but it was harder to stay awake. I sat up and noticed that Newt fell asleep.

I shook him, "Newt, I need to tell you something" his eyes fluttered open "What is it?" He looked up at me, his eyes widened in shock. "What happened Lana?"

I didn't notice that I was crying until he brushed away a tear, I frowned and buried my face into his bare chest, he wrapped his arms around me "I... I did this"

"Did what?" His voice was softer now, "Its like how Thomas and Teresa made the maze... I made this part of the trials" I whispered, Newt held me even tighter.

"Look Lana, who you were back then doesn't matter. Who knows, we were probably all from WICKED and all of us had created a part of these trials" my tears stopped, I pulled away from his chest.

Newt smiled and pecked my lips, I blushed at his sudden boldness. "I love you" he whispered. When I finally calmed down, I gave Newt back his shirt, since my tank top wasn't see through anymore. But before he wore it, I saw something behind his neck.

"Newt. Wait, turn around" he turned around, I saw that he had the same tattoo as me "Property of WICKED. Group A Subject A5-The Glue"

"What does that mean?" I smiled "Maybe... because you're the glue that keeps us all together?" He Frowned "Property of WICKED, huh..."

I stared at him as he placed on his shirt and hummed, Newt raised a brow "What's wrong now?" I shrugged before heading out the door "I liked it better without the shirt"

Seeing the tattoo on his nape for the first time made me realize how vulnerable we were. Newt and I raced to the common room and saw that the gladers were having a gathering, most of them were topless to the fact that their shirts were soaking wet. Newt sighed "Put on some shirts. You're making Lana uncomfortable"

The Gladers rushed, Minho crossed his arms, "Do you have one too?" Newt nodded, "The Glue" he announced. Minho half heatedly laughed and frowned "The Leader" everyone else announced their titles except for Thomas, who wasn't even in the room. Minho pointed to their room, "He's inside" Newt nodded and tried to talk to Thomas.

I sat between Minho and Aris, Minho was in deep thought so I decided to talk to Aris, "Thanks by the way" I smiled at him, Aris blinked before shaking his head "I should be the one thanking you... and saying sorry." I tilted my head in confusion.

He sighed "I shouted at you when you were trying to keep me alive, sorry" I smiled "It's fine, now we're even" Aris nodded, "So what's your tattoo? This is mine" he turned around; I pulled down his collar and saw that it was the same title as the plate on his door.

"This is mine" I did the same, I could tell that he was confused by the lack of words, "It's not the same" I nodded "Subject WCKD... I'm not even their property" Aris furrowed his brows "But you don't have any memories too?" "None, when I got to the Glade, I only knew my name and Newt's"

Aris raised a brow "Newt? You mean that blonde British dude you're always with?" I leaned back on my chair "Yeah", I could hear Thomas and Newt's voices getting closer and closer until they appeared through the door. "So, what were we talking about?"

Minho finally snapped out of his thoughts "We were trying to think of a time where they could have place the tattoos on us" It couldn't have been while we were asleep, before I woke up, Newt and Thomas were awake, and I didn't sleep after that kiss. It must have been sometime before that.

"Maybe it was when we were all asleep, you know, after dinner." Thomas nodded "That would make sense, we were all asleep then" Aris pointed to himself "So I guess it's the same for me? Before I was brought here, I didn't have this on my neck" Minho agreed "Yeah, after they transferred you, they must have placed it on you when you fell asleep"

Newt frowned "But why didn't any of us notice?"

Silence followed. The Gladers touched their napes as we realized that the sun was rising. "Did anyone check what was outside of the window?" they all shook their heads before heading towards the room.

When we checked the big broken window, we held our breaths. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw clouds below us, like we were floating up in the sky with no ground. I could hear the curses of the Gladers as they took a step back. "How far down do you think the ground is?"

Minho shook his head "Well I'm not gonna jump to find out." Thomas grabbed the nearest object, which turned out to be a pillow and threw it out of the window, we watched it float down until it reached the clouds and disappear.

"So much for my pillow" Frypan mumbled, I patted his back "Sorry bout that" he shook his head "It's alright, we have bigger things to worry about." I was about to ask what it was until I felt my stomach rumble. Right. There's no food.

Zart suddenly dashed into the room, "GUYS! I FOUND SOMETHING!" We immediately went closer to him. "What is it?" Newt asked as Zart nearly tripped on one of the blankets that was on the floor.

"I-I was looking for my shirt since Logan decided to hide it" he glared at the boy beside Jack, who was snickering silently. He was the youngest one here, now that Chuck was gone. "Continue" Newt ordered. Zart took a deep breath and stood up straight, "I found it near a door that I've never seen before"

We looked at each other, "Show us" Zart nodded, we followed him to the hallway where my room was, at the end of the hallway was a door with a window at the side. We closed in on it and noticed another note.

 _"Sacrifice the one who doesn't belong or fight until you die"_

"Definitely gonna kill whoever made this test" Minho mumbled, Newt grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"Minho" I meekly called out to him, he sent the other Gladers to check the area for another door while Newt, Minho, Thomas, Aris and I stayed behind to search the room. The room looked like mine, a miniature clinic.

"What is it?" How do I say this? I looked at Thomas, I think he knows what I'm going to say, he nods. "I-I made this" Minho crouched down to check under the bed, "Huh?" I bit my lip, "I remember making this test"

Aris turned to me, his eyes wide. Thomas continued searching while Newt had his hand in mine. Minho turned towards me "Just like Thomas and the maze thing?" I nodded, he sighed and scratched the back of his head "Listen, I didn't mean it."

He suddenly added "Couldn't you have made this test a little more easier?" he joked. I frowned "I wish I knew what the last test was, but it seems that they want us to sacrifice someone" Thomas sat on the bed "Someone who doesn't belong huh?"

"In my memory, I remembered a code... E-F-C", Aris tapped his finger on the table, "Earthquake, Flood and Something with a C?". Newt whispered in a low voice "Crank?"

Minho shook his head "Crank?! Hell no!" Thomas couldn't help but agree, I grabbed the note and read it over and over again. Sacrifice the one who doesn't belong or fight till you die. At first glance, you'd immediately think of three people.

When I looked at them, they knew as well. "Thomas, Aris and I... Pick one." I told Newt and Minho, who stood there with their eyes wide. Thomas and Aris didn't say a word, they knew that we didn't belong. "None!" Newt shouted at me "I am not losing you!"

But we knew what he meant, I had the biggest percent of being the sacrifice. "Remember what Alby said? I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm different from you, I'm not even their property. Plus...I don't want all of you to die, just let them kill me and you'll all live"

"Like hell I will! I finally have you and you're going to leave me?" The others stood in silence as Newt shouted his heart out. "I love you... so please... don't leave me"

I hugged him tightly, I didn't want to let go, I didn't want to leave him "I love you too" I heard Minho clear his throat, "We're gonna fight" I shook my head "No we're not" Newt held my hand, Aris was leaning on the bed, Thomas was by the door and Minho was right in front of me.

"You are a Glader. We only have each other to take of, if we sacrifice one for all then what's the point of saying that we're a family? If we're gonna die, then we'll die fighting."

Being by the door, Thomas heard the shouting earlier than the others did, he rushed out of the room and the door suddenly bolted shut. "What the hell?" Thomas and Minho turned the knob but it wouldn't budge.

Thomas could hear the Gladers shouting, "Cranks!". The opposite wall from the door suddenly opened, revealing a ton of guns that they've never seen before, "What the-?"

Lana grabbed the nearest gun and examined it "I guess we're fighting then" Thomas pounded on the glass, "BREAK THE GLASS!" he shouted. Lana and Aris started grabbing the guns, Minho and Newt grabbed the metal chairs and broke the glass.

"Quick! Pass me a gun!" Minho threw Thomas a gun as he ran off to where the Gladers were. Most of the Gladers ran here to grab a gun and fight, Newt and Minho jumped over the broken window with guns and ran. Aris and Lana passed the guns until they were the only ones left. Aris grabbed his own and the two ran into the common room.

Everything was a mess, as soon as the Gladers saw the first wave, they used the bed frames to barricade the doors. Men, women, children and elderly Cranks alike started climbing up the building out of nowhere and in through the broken window like a bunch of ants.

The feeling of a gun in my hand made me feel powerful. But that was it. Pulling the trigger and killing the Cranks made me want to puke, they're different from the Grievers, they're actual living people. They're just sick and hungry.

This was when I noticed how badly injured my hands were, punching the glass to break wasn't exactly a good idea, but it worked. I didn't notice it before but my knuckles were red-blue ish.

Only now that I'm holding something heavy do I realize that squeezing the trigger required so much effort.

As soon as Newt saw me enter the room, he never left my side. My adrenaline pumped so much, I felt like I could run a marathon. I pointed my gun to a Crank and shot it on the head, blood splattering on my body.

Newt grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the room where the guns were from, "Everyone! Fall back!" Minho shouted as the Cranks' numbers increased.

Everyone ran until we reached the back room, Thomas and Minho were in front, still shooting the pack of zombies. It was like one of those apocalypse movies that people loved to watch.

"Get in the room and shoot from there" Newt helped me through the window, I stood on the bed to get a better vantage point and started shooting like I was in a COD Zombie campaign. I shook my head "Why did I remember that game?" I muttered under my breath as I shot another one.

From up here, I could tell that Winston's left leg was injured and the rest were fine. Newt and Aris joined up with Thomas and Minho in from of the group and started shooting like they were holding machine guns, which they weren't. I threw some left over guns to the ones that broke theirs and bullet cartridges for those with no more bullets.

The head, arms, legs, stomach and heart were our main targets. Minho shouted "Those who don't want to get eaten better fight or I'll kill them myself!" Which caused us to fight even harder.

My stomach felt funny, like I needed to puke really badly. I bit my lip and held it down, not wanting to lose my cool while fighting a horde of cranks.

Most of us held strong but others were wounded, Clint and Jeff got to work by bringing them to the room where I was and tried to stop the bleeding.

"Lets just hope we don't get infected by a bite" Jeff muttered. Clint smacked him at the back of his head "Slim it will ya? You're scaring the kid" Jeff apologized and went back to fight.

It's been hours since the Cranks came and little by little, we noticed that their numbers decreased, I got out of the room and joined the vanguard, we moved forward until we reached the common room, we were covered in blood that wasn't ours and we were more tired than ever before.

We finally reached the big room and pushed forward, the Cranks didn't even make it passed the first bunk bed when we killed them. That was when we noticed that the Cranks stopped coming, it was quiet, you could only hear the sound of us breathing heavily.

We were about to cheer until we felt the building shake, Thomas peeked out the window and cursed "I have had enough of you and your bullshit!" he shouted as he emptied his gun.

I peeked out and noticed that he was shooting a Griever, "You have got to be kidding me?!" I started shooting its instruments, Newt appeared "Bloody hell!" Minho grabbed the fire extinguisher, threw it at him and shouted "Can't you just leave us alone for once you stupid clunk of metal!"

Angry. Frustrated. Tired. Annoyed. Hurt. We felt them all as we started shooting the Griever, who we hoped was the final wave.

Frypan and the others even threw the bunker bed out of the window and watched it hit the Griever, luckily, the thing almost slipped if not for its other instruments. "I hate you! I hate you!" I heard someone chant, I suddenly remembered the wound on my side, after everything that's happened, it didn't hurt.

When they decided to throw another bunk down, that was when the Griever fell to its death. A weird way to go but we'll take it.

Without warning, my head started pounding, everything in the room began to spin and the next thing I knew, it was all black. The last thing I heard was Newt shouting my name.

 _I stepped toward the glass window, behind it was a man covered in wounds and burn marks. He thrashed his head to the side and saw me through the glass, even though they bind his hands to the metal table, he tried to reach out to me._

 _The crazed look that he had earlier was replaced with something warm, I opened my mouth to say something but suddenly, "Miss Lana, What are you doing here?" I shifted my gaze to the man that started to pull me away from the scene._

 _He was tall and had a stern look on him, "But that was-" "Don't be absurd, now let's get back. The next trial is about to begin" The man held my small hand, he bent down and whispered "I'm sorry... But you must forget what you saw there, promise me" his sudden sincere words made me nod my head "I promise, Mr.-"_

"Lana, you need to wake up" Newt's voice shook me, I opened my eyes and saw that we in my room, "What's wrong?" Newt's voice turned to whisper "After the fight, we found a key to the one of the lockers, Thomas turned the key and suddenly the lockers split in half, revealing a door."

I raised my brow, "That's not something you'd hear everyday" I mumbled, Newt laughed a bit "There's more, we went through the door and found this huge pile of food."

"Everyone was excited of course, but we became cautious when we saw a man behind a desk, he's been reading and writing without a word or a glance. Because of his face, Minho named him Rat Man"

I sat up and looked at him, "It's been more than an hour and he still hasn't said a word, I knew you were hungry so I decided to wake you up" I nodded, I felt my stomach grumble. Newt smiled and took my hand, we walked to the lockers, it was like he said, open in the middle.

We entered and the first thing I noticed was the man, who was wearing a white lab coat and had a very serious expression on him. I couldn't stop myself from saying "Mr. Janson?"

 **Hey guys! This chapter was inspired by the The Scorch Trials trailer!**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Rat Man"_

 _I didn't know what came over me, the man in front of me was clearly someone I knew, someone who was particularly close to me. Mr. Janson, his name was as familiar to me as Newt's was, but the feelings behind them were different._


	12. Rat Man

_~Rat Man~_

"Mr. Janson" Lana's voice called to the man behind the desk. He was there when they arrived, he had a stern look on his face as he wrote and read non stop. The only noise he made was the shuffling of papers.

Something about his face made Minho call him 'Rat Man', he was probably too tired to deal with a man who won't acknowledge your existence to even care less about him offending the man.

But as soon as she spoke, it was like a spell broke and he suddenly snapped out of his routine. Rat Man dropped the pen he was holding as he looked up and saw her, a small smile forming at the corner of his lips.

But it quickly left him, as if it never happened. But some of them noticed, some thought it was a trick of the eye.

The man looked at his watch and gently shook his head. It's not time, he thought to himself as he proceeded to grab his pen and start writing again.

I didn't know what came over me, the man in front of me was clearly someone I knew, someone who was particularly close to me. Mr. Janson, his name was as familiar to me as Newt's was, but the feelings behind them were different.

Newt and the others looked at me as I spoke the man's name. They huddled up with me in the center, none of them, except myself, noticed the Mr. Janson shake his head after checking the time. Even though the others were asking me questions, my eyes drifted to my watch and saw the time.

It was a few minutes till midnight. How long was I asleep?

When we looked back at the man, he was back to his original position, writing non-stop. I noticed what he was wearing; a white suit and tie with white shoes. A complete opposite from what we were wearing. That's when I saw a glare of light from where Mr. Janson was, "There's a forcefield around him" was all Thomas said before sitting down.

I felt my stomach rumble, Newt gestured that I should sit on the metal seat of the metal picnic table. I sat down on the cool seat and relaxed, that was when I felt my whole body ache.

I looked down at my hands and noticed that the bruises were much more worse than before. Purple blue patches could be seen on my arms and probably on legs too. I opened and closed my fist to test if I could move it properly.

It did, thankfully. I looked around and saw that the other Gladers' injuries were far more worse than mine. I noticed Clint and Jeff running around with medical supplies in their arms.

Newt must have noticed my gaze and said "When we got here, there were food, clean clothes, medical and other supplies."

"Other supplies?"

Minho spoke "Ropes, Backpacks, hiking gear; it's almost like we're going camping"

"I think that's exactly what we're going to do" Thomas spoke before he took a long sip from his now full water flask. Newt handed me a flask of water too, the feeling of the water pass through my throat made me realize how thirsty I actually was.

Newt smiled and patted my back "Not so fast, i don't want you choking on water" I gulped and smiled "Sorry" I immediately grabbed the closest fruit, which was an apple, and started eating. "So, what happened while I was asleep?"

Minho gestured to Thomas "Well he charged face first into the force field" Thomas glared at Minho before saying "Rat Man there said that we have to wait until he talks about phase two of the trials" _Phase two?_

Aris came by and sat down beside me, "You know the guy?" The others stared, I thought for a moment, "Yes and No"

Minho raised a brow, urging me to go on, "It's like when I first met Newt," I looked at the brit, "I knew his name and have a connection but I don't _know_ him"

"It's the same with him, I've seen him in my dreams, visions or whatever you'd call them. He was very close to me." I stared at the Mr. Janson again, I could tell that he was listening in by the way his writing slowed down.

I turned to Aris and found him glaring at Mr. Janson, "What's wrong?" As soon as I asked that, I noticed how his hands were clenched into fists and his knuckles were white.  
"I've met him before, he waited for us outside of the maze, he made one of our friends kill Rachel. But he died, he was killed by the soldiers that saved us, or so I thought"

His voice was glazed in hate. Thomas managed to say in a whisper "If he did that to you then... that means the woman is still alive". Minho sighed and stood up, he walked towards the invisible shield that stood in the way between him and Mr. Janson.

"Hey! Rat Man! Talk to us already! I wanna know what the fuck is going on!" He shouted, but Mr. Janson didn't acknowledge his presence.

Our watches suddenly glowed, 12am. Mr. Janson exhaled and finally looked up, "As miss Lana had said, my name is Janson and you shall address me as such."

He looked over us, stopping for a second to actually look at me before he continued to look at the others. I could feel Aris tense up beside me, I instinctively placed my hand on top of his hand gently squeezed.

Aris sighed and relaxed a little; for some reason, I was compelled to look at Newt, he was staring at me but then nodded in understanding. He grabbed my other hand and intertwined it with his.

Janson couldn't help but clench his jaw at the sight of the two, he stood up in a quick motion and gestured to the empty wall behind him. "As you may have already guessed, I am from WICKED, an organization of scientists and politicians that have been trying to fight the sun flares and I am here to tell you that we are not your enemy"

Minho crossed his arms "Then who is?" Janson snapped his fingers, a projector showed the picture of the Cranks in a deserted city, "The Flare itself, of course."

His hand gestured to the Gladers "And all of you, are infected by the Flare" Newt's grip on Lana's hand tightened as everyone panicked "Now now, don't be alarmed, it takes a while before the symptoms would show but for now, you're okay, until you get the cure that is." Thomas stood beside Minho "What do you want?"

Janson smiled "You and sixty others that were placed in your Glade went through Phase One, as well as Group B," his eyes flickered to Aris, the boy wanted to lunged towards the man but gritted his teeth instead.

"Speaking of which, I have a little surprise for you all" Janson pressed the button under his desk as the was east wall disappeared, replaced by another forcefield. Aris couldn't believe his eyes. It was group B.

The girls rose from their seats and ran towards the wall, their mouths forming Aris' name. Aris ran towards the wall as well, banging at the forcefield that prevented him from getting any closer to his friends. "Sonya! Harriet! Everyone!" he shouted as he punched the forcefield.

The Gladers stood where they were as they watched a group of girls try to reach Aris, Thomas saw a familiar face and immediately scowled "You!" Lana saw her, she was wearing a white dress similar to Janson's suit, her hair was in a bun and looked very much alive.

The girls also noticed Janson and glared at him, of course, the man didn't care. Their attention was brought back to the woman as she started to speak, the girls would glance back to the gladers, wondering why was Aris with them.

The gladers whispered to one another. Thomas was silently pinching Minho on the arm in order for him to keep quiet before he could try to flirt with the girls, he knew that Aris wouldn't like it and would prefer less commotion between them.

Newt still held Lana's hand but she noticed how he lessened his grip on her when a girl with blonde hair saw them. Lana looked up at Newt, his brows were furrowed as he continued to look at the girl. Lana couldn't help but feel jealous, but the more she looked at the girl, the more she saw how much the girl looked like Newt. "Do you know her?"

Lana whispered, Newt looked at her and shrugged "She looks familiar... But no." she nodded, she didn't want to pry. Before she could come up with a different subject, they noticed that the girls were waving.

Aris' eyes widened "What? Why are you guys waving?! No! Don't go! Please!" the wall started to appear once more, blocking the view of Group B. "Since Group B finished ahead of you, they will be the first ones to start Phase two" Janson spoke,

"Tomorrow, we shall begin Phase two, I will send you out to that deserted city, called the Scorch, you will have two weeks to cross the Scorch and at the end, lies the cure to the Flare"

Aris gritted his teeth "If you have the cure, why not give it to the ones already infected by the Flare?!" Janson shook his head "The Cranks? It's too late for them, their minds are shattered and their bodies are infected from head to toe, the cure could kill them instantly. Also, the cure is expensive, not everyone can afford it"

"Why did you choose us?" Janson turned to Lana as she spoke, he looked down to the papers in front of him, "Unlike all of the other test subjects, Group A and Group B has passed the series of tests that challenged you mentally, physically, emotionally and psychologically. You have the ability to adapt to the cure."

"Also," Janson looked directly at Lana "When you finish the Scorch trials, we can return all of your memories back" at those words, everyone kept silent.

Our memories, the thing I've been longing for ever since I woke up in that dreadful box. I looked at Janson and noticed how he opened a folder and said "Later at 6 am, you will go through the Flat Trans. It will look like a shimmering gray wall behind my desk, it closes 5 minutes after, those who choose to be left here will be... executed in an unpleasant manner."

The Gladers started spouting meaning less questions, Newt gripped my hand tighter than before as he continued "There are no rules, all you have to do is find open air and head North for 100 miles to make it to the safe haven in two weeks then you complete phase two."

I croaked "What happens if we don't make it in two weeks?" Janson's expression became serious, "You'll either end up succumbing to the flare and become a Crank, or..." "Or?" "Or you die" I could feel the color from my face fade away.

"You have to finish phase two to live, it's not an easy task, but you'll live. Good luck to you all." with that, he turned around and disappeared into the wall behind him. "Well, shuck me" Minho whispered before clearing his throat, making us all stare at him.

"Everyone, I want you all to take this time to relax and rest because you're gonna need all the strength that we can muster phase two. Set your watches for 5am, we're gonna have to pack up. But for now, rest." Thomas nodded "Sounded like a real leader" Minho sighed "Yeah, well at times like this, we could really use Alby's help" he muttered before leaving the room.

Newt turned to look at me, "I found some clean clothes for you, go and take a shower first so that Clint can patch you up" I nodded as he kissed my forehead. I grabbed the clean clothes and a clean towel and headed for the shower room.

It was empty, since Newt probably told them that I'd be in here. I went into one of the stalls after I removed all my clothing and turned on the shower, it was cold but in a nice way, I felt cleaner just standing there.

I flinched as the wounds started to hurt and sting, I stared at my reflection on the wall and saw how badly bruised I actually was; I also saw how the Griever wound healed, you could see where the wound was. I guess their doctors really know how to seal up a wound. After gently cleaning myself, I couldn't help but stand there, lost in my own thoughts.

"Newt, you still haven't given her it, have you?" Minho whispered as they guarded the door to the shower room while Thomas disappeared into Aris' room. "I'll give it to her when she gets out, she's been through a lot" Minho nodded, he knew that Lana was just a girl. He knew that she struggled harder than any of them, she tries to keep up with the pace that the Gladers had and never once complained.

He also knew how much that personality of hers worries Newt, ever since she got out of the box, she had been kind and caring. Sure, she freaked out and cried over some things but every Glader went through that phase in their life in the Glade.

Minho wasn't kidding when he said that he liked her, well, not as much as Newt. He liked her attitude, her... Flare. He mentally slapped himself for saying such a stupid yet coincidental comment. But he was glad to have her as a friend none the less, he could talk to her better than Teresa, there was something about Teresa that Minho didn't seem to like.

Lana on the other hand was approachable, she even got Gally to open up to her. Now that was the time when he looked at her in awe, he knew that he wouldn't make a move though, not after he found out about Newt's feelings.

Newt was like his brother after Alby, them always running in the maze and laughing together. But when THAT happened, Newt was never the same, he always blamed himself for not noticing Newt's behavior. But after Lana came, Newt seemed to have returned to his former self, he was happier.

So he started treating Lana as his sister. A very cute sister that he always imagined having in his dreams, maybe he had one in his past life? He didn't know. He couldn't remember. Minho thought about the second phase, Rat Man said that at the end is the cure and also the chance to get our memories back, but did he really want it?

He was cut off from his train of thought when Lana opened the door, allowing the hot steam to leave the shower room through the door. "Hey guys! I didn't know you were there"

I wore a dark and easy to run in pants, a gray tank top with matching boots and to top it off, a black coat with a hood on it. I smiled at the two, Minho waved "I'm gonna check on Thomas, Lana, get yourself checked." I nodded as he left. Newt stood beside me, "I found something earlier" he opened up the palm of my hand and gently gave me something.

I looked and saw that it was a silver necklace in the shape of an owl, "It's beautiful! Where did you find this?" "I saw it in a bag where your clothes were, I figured that you would want to have it... May I?" I turned around and gathered my short hair to the side, Newt did the clasp and watched as the Owl fell to my chest.

"Now that that's settled, have Clint take a look at you, I have to talk to Minho and Thomas" We went our separate ways, I entered the secret room and saw that the injured Gladers waited in line for Clint and Jeff while the ones who weren't injured left to take a shower.

"Need some help?" I asked, there were only 2 more boys that waited in line. Clint and Jeff both looked up and sighed in relief, "Are you sure? You're still injured" Jeff asked as he bandaged Logan's arm. I one of the med kits and nodded "Yeah, you can patch me up when you're done with them"

I called to one of the boys, I realized that I didn't know his name. He was one of the runners that Minho and Thomas were with, "I'm sorry but what's your name?" the boy grinned and shook his head "My name is Jace and you don't have to say sorry... I never once talked to you back in the Glade so it's alright"

I stared at Jace, he had blue eyes and blonde hair, but he was badly injured on his left arm. "I'm Lana" he smiled "I know, I see you with Newt and the others" I started wrapping his wound after disinfecting it, he cringed in pain but sighed as I finished. "Thank you again" He smiled before leaving the room, I saw Clint waving for me.

He brought me to my room where Jeff was fixing the medical supplies "Now, don't be shy about letting me see anything. If you're uncomfortable, just tell me and I'll stop." I nodded at his instructions. "Do you mind if you lift up your shirt to where you think your wounds are?"

I removed my jacket and lifted my tank top up to where the wound was, Clint asked me to lay down on the bed as he started disinfecting it. To be honest, it hurt like hell, all of them did. Jeff bandaged up my arms and hands, "Keep this on even when we get to the Scorch, we don't know what infections you could get out there besides the ones we already have."

"We can change the bandages once were already there" Clint mumbled to Jeff as he finished off bandaging my stomach. "You're pants now if you please, we'll turn around, you can tell us when it's alright to look."

I felt embarrassed because my friends had to see me like this. I removed my pants and shoes but quickly gabbed my jacket to cover my underwear from sight, there weren't any injuries there so I didn't think it mattered.

"Okay... It's alright" The two turned around and proceeded, to their eyes, I was another wounded friend that needed a doctor. We heard a knock on the door but before I could cover up, Newt barged in. He stared at us for a moment before averting his eyes. "So-sorry. How is she?" he directed the question to Jeff, who was the closest to the door.

I looked at Jeff and saw that he was trying to hold his laughter, "Well, she needs food, water and plenty of rest. As far as I could see, she's perfectly capable of doing things at her own pace, so I wouldn't worry much if I were you"

Clint finished wrapping my legs, "Well time for us to leave" he stated as he practically pulled Jeff out of the room as the two started laughing. I sat up and smirked

"You're as red as a tomato" I couldn't help but tease as he stood there, blushing like an idiot. Newt sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, "Well it's not the first time you've seen me without any pants on"

Newt's blush deepened as he glared at me "Sorry lizard, I just couldn't help it, you're so cute" Newt leaned closer to my face, our lips almost touching, "I am NOT cute and not a bloody lizard" I raised a brow "Really? Then what are you?"

"I'm your boyfr-" the door suddenly burst open, revealing Minho and Thomas, who were equally shocked as the two on the bed. "We-Uh... We just wanted to ask you if you're sleeping in Lana's room but..." Thomas trailed off as I tugged Newt closer to hide my lower half from them.

Newt glared at the two, Minho panicked "Yeah, well we got our answer huh Greenie? Let's go!" he pulled Thomas and slammed the door. We both sighed as the two finally left, Newt removed his boots and climbed on the bed.

"Let's sleep" he mumbled as he pulled me into an embrace, I buried my face in his chest "I'm your boyfriend" I heard him whisper, "I wanted to say earlier was that I'm your boyfriend" I looked up and pecked his lips, "I love you" "And I love you"

 **Hello lovelies! If you may have noticed, I placed Logan's name (Logan Lerman) and Jace's name (Mortal Instruments) I just wanted to have some of my other fandoms in this story, even if it was just as simple as their names.**

 **Also, I wanted to give Minho a short look into what his thoughts were. I dunno, just thought of having someone else's thoughts over the usual pair was something new.**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Phase Two"_

 _I wasn't sure what would happen when we walked through that door into a pitch black hallway, Newt held my hand as he walked ahead of me, that was when I heard it. Someone screaming as the sound of something dropping on the floor and rolling down. What's happening?_


	13. Phase Two

**Hey guys! this is the recent upload that i did on Wattpad. I hope you enjoy!**

 _~Phase Two~_

Minho couldn't help but smile as he passed by Lana's room. In the midst of everything that's happened, those two deserved to be happy.

He paused in front of the lockers, watching Thomas as he tried to study the wall behind the desk while Aris studied the wall that became transparent.

Zart suddenly appeared together with Jack "All of the Cranks were thrown off the window" Minho nodded, the two excused themselves before heading back to the common room.

After Lana fainted when the Griever died, Thomas thought that it was probably a good idea to throw the Cranks out as well, just to make sure that they wouldn't be here if they came back to life.

"Minho, most of the boys are sleeping, you need to rest too" Winston suggested as he went to pack his things. "Thanks, but seeing these two shanks studying walls like retards makes me feel responsible to look after them"

"We can hear you, shuckface!" Thomas called out. "And we can look after ourselves, thank you very much" Aris commented. The two nodded at each other and rolled their eyes towards Minho.

Winston laughed and patted Minho's shoulder, "Well get some sleep. Wouldn't want you dying tomorrow" Minho nodded and gave a small smiled "Same to you too"

Winston entered the room, grabbing a spare backpack and started stuffing in supplies. "There isn't anything there" he heard Thomas mutter as Winston by passed him.

Minho glanced back at Aris, who was now sitting on the floor with his eyes closed shut. He felt sorry for the boy, being reunited with your family after how many days and was only able to see each other for less than 30 minutes.

If he was in Aris' place, he probably couldn't handle the pain. Aris crouched down and said something, Minho was too far to hear it. Thomas didn't flinch so he probably didn't hear the boy too.

"Minho, did you come from the other room?" Thomas called out. The other room was the one with all the guns. Minho said that they would need to gather them after Rat Man left.

But when Zart went to check on the guns, they were all gone. Someone took all the guns when they were talking to Rat Man.

He asked the other Gladers after Lana and Newt left. Apparently, everyone was present when Rat Man was here. "No clues to whoever took them. Probably a member of WICKED"

Thomas nodded, "Alright. C'mon Aris, time for some shut eye" the boy nodded and willingly followed Thomas and Minho out the room and into the big room.

The lights were already off, most of them were asleep. Good thing they tried drying the mattresses and blankets earlier.

 _"You did this!" I heard someone shout, I turned the corner and saw two men, one on the floor and one holding a syringe. "No!" My small self shouted as I ran towards the man on the floor._

 _The man standing shook his head, his face was a blur "Oh sweet little Lana, you shouldn't have come down here" "R-run!" The man on the floor begged, but I stayed. "You should listen to him Lana"_

 _The other man mused, I didn't budge. "Run!" "No!"_

Ever since I woke up, that dream or memory kept on repeating in my head. Who were they?

Luckily I got up before Newt noticed that I was crying. I didn't want him to see me like this, not anymore. "Its almost time everyone!" Minho announced.

I wiped my tears before our alarms went off on our watches. Newt stirred and slowly sat up "Hey" I rubbed his back "Hey" we both stood up and grabbed our bags, Newt said that a bag already had my stuff inside.

"Ready?" "Yeah, just hold my hand and don't let go"

I kissed his cheek before heading out the door, "I won't". The Gladers were all in the room behind the lockers, the room as almost empty, except for what's left of the food that was currently being eaten for breakfast.

We ate quickly, making sure to hydrate our bodies enough to last more than a few days without drinking from our canteen. "If what we saw out the window is the Scorch, were going to need to drink up"

Frypan suggested as he handed us our portion of water. Even until here, he still takes care of our health... well, in terms of food that is.

Minho would stand up from the benches every now and then to check the others; Thomas waited for the Flat Trans to show up; Aris was beside him, the two seemed to have been spending a lot of time together lately.

Clint and Jeff went around with Minho to check on the wounded, which included myself. "Lana, how are you feeling?" Jeff asked as they finished patrolling the entire room.

I rubbed my bandaged stomach, "Feeling better than before. Thanks" Jeff looked like he was going to say something until Logan shouted "It's 6am!" On cue, a silver looking door frame appeared and the door itself had a weird metal blackish color.

Minho stood in front "I'll go in first" he looked at Thomas "You go last to make sure everyone gets in" Thomas nodded. Minho took a deep breath and smiled "This is a baaaad idea" he remarked before walking through.

The flat trans sucked him in, the Gladers went in one at a time until it was only Thomas, Newt, Aris and me left.

Newt turned to Aris "You stay behind Lana. If anything happens to me, I want you to grab her and Tommy and head the opposite direction. Got it?" Aris was taken aback, but nodded.

"Yeah, I got it" he then turned to me "I'll be waiting for you in the other side" Newt bent down to peck my lips before going through the flat trans.

I waited for a few seconds and closed my eyes, I felt a shiver travel down my back as I entered, the Flat Trans ride made me dizzy. Like there was something wrong with it. I opened my eyes but wondered if they were even open.

It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything. I grabbed my flashlight and turned it on, but nothing happened.

I panicked "Newt?" I called out weakly. "Newt!?" I shouted louder, "Over here! Walk a bit forward" that was when I noticed how tight the corridor was. It was made for us to walk in a straight line.

I held on to the walls and started to walk towards the guys, I could finally hear their voices. I almost jumped when someone touched my arm, "It's me, Lana" Newt. I sighed I relief and held on to his hand "Told ya I'll be here"

"Mm... so where is everybody else?" "Right behind the both of you flirting shucks" the sound of Zart's voice made us jump. Right, we're in a line.

I felt someone bump into me, "Aris?" I turned to the dark figure, "Yep. Sorry bout that, I can't see sticks in here" i nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see me. "It's alright, is Tommy behind you?"

"First Newt and now Lana, who else is gonna start calling me that?" The sound of Thomas' voice was right behind Aris. "I could call you Tommy, if that's what you prefer?" Aris offered.

Thomas scoffed "Thanks but no thanks." "Is everyone here?!" We heard Minho's voice call out from a head of us. Thomas answered "Yeah, I was the last one"

Minho made sure that everyone was in a line and had us do a head count. "Twenty-One!" Thomas shouted. "Let's go guys" Newt spoke, our hands still intertwined as he slowly walked forward with the rest of the group.

It was still very dark. I couldn't see where we were going and we've walked too far to turn back now. The flat trans is probably gone by now too. You could only hear whispering of the Gladers and our footsteps as we walked straight ahead without turning.

I frowned, twenty-one? We were forty-one when we decided to leave the Glade, is that how many people died?

"Lana, are you alright?" Aris asked, Newt was probably worried too since I stopped walking. "Yeah, sorry, let's go"

Before we could continue, we heard the sound of someone whimpering, Newt pulled me closer to him as Minho shouted "Did anyone get that?" the whimper came again, but I could only hear the sound of a sick old man trying to say something. "Go back?" Logan repeated.

"Everyone stay quiet and listen harder!" Minho shushed us as we continued to stand in complete darkness. That was when I finally heard it _"One chance deal. Go back now you won't be sliced"_

What? "Did he just say 'Won't be sliced?'" Newt held me close, the gladers made a commotion about the man's threat. "Just keep going shanks!" I heard Frypan's voice "Wait. He said one-chance, let's think about this!"

Newt answered in place of Minho, "It's just a test! Everyone keep moving forward!" That's right, it's just a test, Janson said that if we went back, we would die.

We were about to go forward until we heard the old man's sickly voice _"You're all dead. You're all going to be sliced. Dead and Sliced._ " Newt whispered "C'mon, let's go" we started walking, no one said a thing about the man's threat.

We continued walking in the darkness, the air was getting thicker and hard to breathe. We walked for what seemed like hours, both of Newt and my hands were sweaty, but we both didn't care.

I could tell that Aris was close by since he would bump into me from time to time, I could hear his meek "Sorry" "It's alrig-" someone screaming caught our attention. "What was that?" Aris asked, Thomas ran ahead, pushing some of us to the side.

I could hear some commotion up ahead, "We need to see what's happening, let's follow him" Newt and I went after Thomas, we suddenly heard the sound of something metal fall down to the ground. "There's something wrong" Thomas announced.

Winston was beside the screaming boy, he was panicking, saying "His name was Frankie... He-he just stopped walking and then I touched him and he started screaming and-" his weeping cries drowned his words.

Newt's grip tightened as we got closer, Thomas panicked and said "He was freaking out so I pinned him down and touched his head and he had a metal ball for a head" I felt something hit my foot. I didn't notice that Aris followed us until he grabbed it 'cuz he said aloud "It's a giant metal ball"

Newt touched the ball "And it's slippery... it feels like blood" questions were being thrown left and right, "Quiet shanks!" Newt called out. The boy beside me shouted "We need to go back before he slices us!" I immediately shook the boy "We have to go forward or we'll be killed"

Thomas shouted "Let's move forward. Run if you have to!" "On it!" We heard Minho shout before the sound of him running came after. We ran, not slowing down to accidentally trip someone over. The sound of someone laughing filled the air, we could tell that it was the old man.

"GO GO GO!"

I heard someone scream, followed by the sound of the metal ball falling down. As we ran, I lost my grip on Newt's hand and fell behind as someone went ahead of me. "Newt!" "Lana!"

I felt someone grab my shoulder, "Lana! C'mon!" I heard Winston shout, he pushed me forward to go ahead of him. "Stop!" Frypan shouted, "What's wrong?" Logan was in front of me, "Minho found some stairs"

"Finally" someone mumbled. Finally is right. Now we can get out of this hell.

"Let's meet up with Newt" I followed Winston up the stairs, the others were letting us pass them. "What's wrong Thomas?" I heard Newt speak, there was a sudden light that blinded out eyes. "Put a cloth on your eyes so they can adjust!"

Minho ordered before he closed the hatch again. I grabbed my hoodie and placed it over my head, luckily, it reached my eyes. Minho slowly opened the hatch again, the heat from the outside was unbearable, "Are we still on earth or did we end up at the surface of the sun?!"

Minho's sassy comments were enough to kind of divert our attention for a short while. I heard something weird, like it was slimy and disgusting, "What the shuck is that?!" Winston pointed to the ceiling near the hatch.

It looked like a metal liquid thing, it morphed and changed shape. "Lana! Watch out!" Before I knew it, Winston pushed me into Newt's arms, followed by the sound of Winston screaming in agony. "Winston!" Thomas ran to Winston's body, "It burns! It hurts!"

"Winston! No no no!" I bent down beside him, Thomas helped remove the thing but it burnt Winston. His hair was partly burnt off, his ears were cut and torn at the edges, his face that used to be covered in pimples was now covered with blood and burnt marks.

As soon as he saw me, Winston tried to stop whimpering and smiled "It's fine, good thing you're safe" he croaked, but it was obvious that it hurt like hell. I looked up and saw that everyone was looking at us, at him.

"What the shuck was that thing?" Minho asked, "Magic goop that eats people's heads, that's what it bloody was" Newt mumbled. Aris bent down near us "Maybe some new kind of technology" Seeing as I was the only one Aris spoke to the entire trip, everyone seemed shocked that Aris spoke.

"I remembered bits and pieces but I don't remember anything about flying molten metal that tries to cut off body parts" I stood up and climbed up the stairs near Newt. "Newt, we need to get out of here before another one comes back" he nodded, "Couldn't agree more"

Minho called Frypan and Jack "We need to lift him up, he can still come with us" The two nodded and grabbed Winston's arms and placed them around both of their shoulders. "Sam and Aris, you two grab Winston's stuff!" Aris and another boy nodded.

"We're leaving, I don't care if you guys whine about the brutality of the sun. I'm getting out before my head turns into a bowling ball" Minho opened the hatch fully, "Thomas! Newt! You're coming with me, the three of us are going first"

"I'll see you up there" Newt kissed my forehead before heading up "Let's go Tommy" the three covered themselves with their blankets from the earlier and went out.

"Shuck! That's hot!" Minho shouted. We waited as they formulated a plan, Newt peeked in "Cover yourselves up before coming up, its literal hell up here"

I grabbed my blanket and ran upstairs. Besides the sun, what blinded me was the sand blowing into my eyes. I had to close my eyes for a second before opening them again, to move out of the way for others to get out.

My boots sank in the sand as my blanket tossed around in the wind, I had to keep a strong grip on it or else it would fly away. When everyone was outside, we closed back the hatch and started walking towards the nearest form of shelter, which was the rundown and abandoned city.

From a far, you could see the mountains straight ahead. Is that where we needed to go?

"Where are we?" The boy Sam asked as he and Aris walked beside us, I shrugged and took a good look around. There were buildings and cars around, surrounded by sand and nothing much beyond that. Years ago, this city was probably filled with healthy people, and now, they're sick.

We entered a building which seemed like a bank before all this madness happened. I could tell that when the Sun flare hit, people started panicking. The windows were broken, the furniture was turned over and the doors busted.

Clint and Jeff cleared off a table and started patching Winston back up before we could continue walking again. Others like Thomas, Minho, Frypan, and Newt went to look around the building for supplies and to check the premises for Cranks or even group B.

I saw Sam introducing Aris to the other gladers, some of which I too didn't know the names of.

I drank a small portion of water and bit a piece of apple, we needed to use our food resources wisely. There will come a time where even just the smallest of food can change a person's life.

"GUYS!" Thomas shouted from the other room. We all got up as Thomas and the others backed up into the room, not turning their backs to what ever was on the other side. Newt reached me and took my hand.

"Everyone get together and you know what to do if they start fighting" Minho commanded, everyone went to Winston, since he couldn't move and none of us wanted to leave him alone. We finally came face to face with two people wearing a coat over their body.

We could only see a little of their skin, one was male and the other was female, both stopped in front of us and said,

"Welcome to the Scorch"

 **Hello lovelies! I am so sorry for the delay! I have been busy with all my thesis and projects that I haven't really touched my phone expect needed. Did you watch the Scorch Trials movie? To those that didn't know about the movie, the director, Wes Ball, made it in his own style and added some parts of the 2nd and 3rd book.**

 **I may be a book lover, but i really did enjoy this movie. If you haven't watched it and you have an open mind, go and try it out.**

 **I've been fixing the background for this story that will be featured in Kill Order Arc and fever Code Arc, and I will add my own original back story about WICKED. I havent decided on the title of that arc.**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Scorch"_  
 _The Scorch was nothing like the video Janson showed us. This was far more worse. The hot sun flares of the sun and the cold thundery nights are not the only things that we should fear out here, things are not going too well for us._


	14. Scorch

_~Scorch~_

"Welcome to the Scorch"

The two spoke in unison, their voices muffled by their mummified covered faces.

They split and circled us, looking at us with their dark eyes. "Who are you?" Minho demanded to one of them, the woman spoke "We're cranks"

Thomas frowned "What do you want?" The man spoke "We had to see if you were infected"

Minho frowned as the two met back in front of us again "A man said that we were infected" the two craned their neck "Who are you and how did you get here?"

Thomas, Minho and Newt looked at each other before Minho answered "That's our business" the two shook their heads, "No matter, if you don't already have it, you will if you continue on this journey"

"Just like the other group, the group that's going to kill you" I looked up at Thomas, To be killed by Group B. Does that mean they were here?

"You have to get going, the night isn't as forgiving as you may think it is. Be careful who you befriend, who you avoid, and who you kill."

The woman warned before the two ran away, their coats fluttering in the sandy wind as they disappeared in a cloud of sand.

"Well I feel welcomed" Frypan mused. Winston groaned as Clint and Jeff applied medicine on him. "Maybe they didn't mean the group, maybe they meant me" Thomas pointed to his nape where the tattoo was located.  
"Just because she said the other group, it doesn't mean that it's my group that wants to kill you" Aris argued, of course he didn't want his friends to kill anyone.

"Rat Man did say that they left a day earlier than us" Sam inserted in the conversation. He was carrying Winston's bag as he decided to sit beside Aris.

I grabbed my backpack and said "Let's just find what we need, get back our energy and head outside" Minho smiled at me "Couldn't have said it better myself"

I shrugged "What can I say, I'm learning from the best" Newt scoffed "Yeah, the best sarcastic leader we've ever had at that"

"Hey! I'm doing a pretty good job if I say so myself" Minho defended as he and the rest started packing, Thomas shrugged "Newt, i think you meant Narcissistic leader"

Minho rolled his eyes and shrugged "Whatever! You shanks coming or not?" We all grabbed our things, wrapped a blanket around ourselves and left.

Winston could already walk but could barely keep him from toppling over when we gave him back his bag. Another boy sighed and took the load off him.

"Thanks Alec" Winston muttered before the boy nodded and continued walking beside another Asian boy, whom I've never spoken to before.

"That's Alec and Magnus" Newt must have noticed me staring "They're... together. Just so you know" I raised a brow, "Oh!" Newt chuckled and nodded "There were a lot in the Glade. It's perfectly normal"

I nodded in understanding, "... Did you like someone from the Glade?" Newt almost tripped "What kind of question is that?! Of course not!"

"Uh huh..." I giggled as I followed Thomas, Newt trailing behind me.

As soon as we exited the building, the laughter died down. The heat coming from the sun was unbearable and we could barely see anything through all this sand.

"Rat Man said that safe haven is 100 miles North! Meaning, it's right behind the mountain!" Minho suddenly announced.

Fry Pan scoffed "So what? Now you can measure distance with your eyes?" Minho shrugged "You get used to it as a runner, measuring distance is no big deal"

No one else said a word, we walked a good distance when we noticed that the sun was setting. "Should we set up camp?" Clint suggested, Minho shook his head "Not here, let's keep going, we need to get a bit farther before resting"

The night came, but unlike the day, it was cold. I held my blanket close, hoping that the wind wouldn't blow it away. Newt had been by my side the entire trip, we we're right behind Thomas and Minho, who were in the lead.

The buildings that surrounded us looked much creepier than this morning, the night made it feel like there were eyes watching us in every corner.

We froze in our places as soon as we heard a scream. "What the hell was that?" I asked aloud. I noticed how Minho and Newt looked at each other. Minho said "That sounds like... When Alby, Thomas and Lana..."

"Were stung and received the cure" Newt finished his sentence, "Please tell me there isn't another Griever in this hell hole!" Jack groaned.

Newt shook his head "I doubt it, those things would be a rolling slimy ball of sand and wouldn't be able to move as much" Thomas shrugged.

"Well whatever it is, it ain't good" Minho nodded "Good that, now let's move before it gets really dark"

We passed more buildings as the night became darker and darker, our paths only to be illuminated by our flashlights and the shinning moon above. The screaming wouldn't stop, this wasn't like mine at all, well, I think I didn't scream like that.

I heard Newt let out a sigh "If we weren't on the run, this would have been a romantic scenery" I smirked "Oh yeah, creepy buildings, screaming lady and abandoned city sounds like a very romantic scenery"

Newt rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand "But in all honesty, yeah, this would have been romantic"

"I bet it would have been more romantic if you two would just get a room already!" Jack whined, we could hear the others laughing as Newt hushed the boy while we continued walking.

The screaming suddenly came into an abrupt stop. Minho, had stopped as well, I looked ahead and saw a girl with long black hair. Teresa?

"Is that Teresa?" Newt suddenly asked, Minho shrugged "Lets go meet her then" Thomas and I locked eyes before he said "I'll do it, you guys stay here"

Thomas ran towards the girl before Newt and Minho could complain. "Well shuck. I guess we should put up camp in that building I guess" Newt muttered as he pulled me into the empty building.

Minho sighed "Fine. Grab what you can for firewood and let's rest"

We climbed up to the second floor, Winston was being patched up again, Minho, Jack and Newt went to scout the rest of the building while Frypan started calculating our food supplies.

Zart, Logan and Jace were stationed downstairs to wait for Thomas to return.

The rest of the gladers sat by the fire, i noticed Aris, he was listening to the Gladers as they told nostalgic stories from their days in the Glade. I sat beside him, wrapping a blanket around me.

"Hey" I smiled at them. The Gladers greeted me as I sat down, "So... I noticed that I haven't really spoken to you guys"

The Asian boy smiled as me "I'm Magnus and this is Alec" Alec waved "Hey" "Hi" I greeted back. Magnus leaned forward and said.

"I know you only have our second in command in your eyes but I just wanted to say that Alec is mine" he winked. Alec punched his arm "Shut up Magnus!" He hissed.

The boy beside them suddenly said "My name is Stan, this is Mike, Tim and Brandon" three other boys smiled as I greeted them.

"And I'm-" Magnus cut me off "Dont worry, we know who you are, Mrs Newton" he winked. I covered my face with my blanket, I could feel a blush creeping on my face.

"Wha-! Guys!" I frowned, Mike smiled and playfully punched Magnus "Look what happened! You made her blush"

"Hey. Back off Mike!" Alec suddenly glared at the boy. I raised my hands "Calm down Alec" he stared at me before nodding, Magnus wrapping an arm around Alec's waist.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Bran smiled, "We were telling Aris about Alby" Aris spoke "He reminds me of our leader in Group B, Harriet"

"What was it like?" Tim suddenly asked Aris, Aris raised a brow "What was what like?" Tim rolled his eyes and gestured "You know, living with a bunch of girls! Being the only boy in the bunch"

"Oh..." Aris shook his head "It wasn't anything like that. I was only there for less than two weeks, I didn't have any crushes on them either and besides," he smiled sadly and spoke in a whisper "I had Rachel"

I frowned, had, losing his only best friend and possibly his only crush in the Glade must have been hard for him.

As soon as Lana frowned, Aris noticed it immediately and decided to change the topic. He turned to the others and smirked "So, how long have the two love birds been dating hm?"

Lana blushed, she smacked Aris' arm "This is not the time or place to talk about that!" She whined as Sam and the others snickered.

"They've been at it since she got out of the box!" Tim whispered a bit too loud, "We were not!"

"You guys sure are a happy bunch" Jace smiled as he, Thomas, Zart and Logan came up the stairs.

Thomas smiled "Yeah, all I had to do was follow the laughs and ended up back here"

Zart gave her nod then went to find Minho and the others while Logan went to check on Winston. "There you are! Okay so what the shuck happened out there?" Minho suddenly appeared with the others.

Newt immediately sat beside me, facing the fire. "Find anything?" He frowned "Nope, the guys who left the building didn't forget a single bloody thing"

Winston and the others came and we had a gathering. "Seems like it's been forever since our last gathering" Minho muttered. "Okay, Thomas. Tell us what happened."

Thomas nodded and frowned, "It was Teresa" Aris raised a brow "But she's not with you" Thomas sighed "I know"

"She escaped from WICKED's base camp, apparently WICKED is planning something big. She said that they're right on her tail and didn't want us to get caught in the ruckus."

"I told her that we could help but she told me to trust her... she um..." Thomas suddenly blushed "She kissed me and then ran away, I couldn't keep up with her so I decided to head back"

Minho sighed "Teresa's got it rough. Don't worry Thomas, she can handle herself" Thomas nodded, "I hope she's alright" I muttered.

Newt pulled me into an embrace, "Its okay love, like what Minho said, she'll be just fine"

I noticed how Aris had been in deep thought, "You okay?" He looked up, "Huh? Oh sorry... just tired from all the running we did"

Aris stood up as Frypan announced dinner, I couldn't help think that Aris was thinking about Rachel. Newt sighed and placed his arm around my waist "Hey, I'm still here ya know"

He muttered under his breath. I gave him an apologetic smile "Sorry... I just feel bad for him, for everyone." Logan gave us two bowls of soup, immediately noticing the atmosphere, and left to join the others.

He must have told the others since no one else came to bother us the entire talk.

"You know it's not your fault Lana" Newt spoke before shoving a spoon full in his mouth.

I frowned and stared down at the bowl on my lap "I-I just feel like it is. I know I wasn't alone but I can't help feeling responsible to everything that's happened"

"... Alby wouldn't be happy if you said that... " he whispered. He's right, "Alby would tell me to not blame myself" I nodded and gave him a peck on the lips "Thanks Newt"

"Lets finish eating so we can get some shut eye"

 _I sat on the metal chair as they took blood from me. The tubes in my arms didn't hurt as bad as they looked, but yet the woman in front of me had a frown on her face._

 _She was looking at the results of the man on the other table. I knew what it meant. He was infected, I looked at my monitor and wondered if I was as well._

Unlike the usual dream waking me up, the Sun's glare beat it to it. I wiped my eyes and looked around, some of the Gladers were up and eating, the others were packing.

I stood up and ate before packing my things. Thankfully the building kept us from the sun, but it didn't last long. "Lets move!" Minho announced as we were set.

The sun was even hotter than the day before. The wind blew sand against our eyes, our blankets threatening to fly out of our grasps. I had to keep it close or else it would go far away.

There were buildings that we passed that seemed like they would be used for offices or hotels. I wondered what city we were in or what country.

We took a detour when we noticed that one of the streets were blocked by barriers and cars. We turned right, away from all the cars, but into a desolate area of the desert.

There was nothing except for the mountains up ahead and the city behind us. We had to keep going. The sun was starting to set again, we didn't know which was longer, the hot days or the cold nights.

I noticed this a few hours ago, but since Frypan didn't say anything, I kept quiet. I slowed down to match his pace "You okay Lana?" His voice was a bit hoarse and tired.

"Yeah. Just need to ask you something" my voice strained, I haven't drunken any water since a couple of hours ago. Frypan nodded "Shoot" I frowned and kept my voice low, but audible for him to hear "How much resources do we really have?"

His eyes widened in surprise, he cleared his throat and sighed "No point lying to you of all people" I smiled "Good choice"

"We'll only have enough until the end of the first week probably. Unless we find something or some place to stock up, that would be really nice"

It was like God heard him and sent a miracle. Thomas told everyone to stop because he had found something awesome underneath the sand.

A mall.

 **Hello lovelies! Thank you so much for reading this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.**

 **For those who didn't know, Jace, Alex and Magnus are from the book series called: The Mortal Instruments. I'm a really big book fan and I'm super excited for the new tv series!**

 _Next chapter:_

 _"The Mall"_

 _A miracle I tell you. We found clothes, food and other supplies to last the entire trials! The lights came back on, but the sound of something menacing made me wish that I was back in the Glade._


	15. The Mall

_~The Mall~_

Minho and Thomas checked the entrance, "Looks safe!" Minho shouted. "It's a slide drop from this window to the ground" Thomas explained "Let's get down there before the sun sets"

The two went first, then Newt and I followed behind. The sand created a slide going down but we almost tripped. I landed on my butt, Newt smiled as he helped me up. Winston sat and slid down while the others followed him.

With our flashlights out, we could only see a little of the mall. "Okay guys, let's see if we can find anything in this creepy place" Thomas muttered before leading the group. Creepy was right. Newt held my hand as we walked through the darkness, there were abandoned shops, old and broken items on the floor, and sand. Everywhere.

I could hear the sounds of our footsteps echoing in the dark. "Do you think anyone's down here?" Tim silently asked. Logan sarcastically answered "Yeah, totally. A bunch of Cranks that is."

"Not helpful man" Mike muttered before turning to the corner, "Hey guys! I think I found something!" We found him standing In front of a store, it had its bars down and you could see that there are supplies inside.

"Good job Mike. Thomas, help me lift this" Minho crouched down and held the bottom of the bars, Thomas followed his example and waited for Minho's signal. "Now"

The two lifted the bars up, locking them in place. We started rummaging through the items, I saw that there were clothes in one corner and was drawn to it.

The others split up to look for more supplies, Newt and Frypan stayed with me here.

Newt started packing his bag with the snacks he found in a container. Frypan was filling up the water canisters while Lana wandered off to look at clothes.

In fact, they all needed to pack some clothes. Lana sat by the corner on a makeshift bed, there were obvious signs of people living here before. She wondered where they were right now.

Something caught her eye, the clothes on the bed made her hand twitch and instinctly grab it. She suddenly remembered the necklace around her neck. Looking at it, she saw that it matched the shirt on the bed. Red. It was probably her favorite color.

Newt couldn't help but stare at her from afar, a small smile playing at his lips. "You done with the food yet?" Frypan deliberately called out. Newt stammered and coughed "Ah. Nope." Frypan now turned to face Newt, his brow raised with a teasing smile. "You know..." Newt sighed "I know! Now is not the time to be distracted"

Frypan shook his head "Actually, I was gonna say the complete opposite. There isn't anything trying to kill us in here, might as well enjoy the peace before we get out and back into hell"

Newt opened his mouth to say something but immediately closed it. Frypan sighed "You should enjoy the view" he turned his head and Newt saw what he was looking at. Lana was stripping her coat-jacket off. Newt pulled Frypan by the chin to turn his gaze away from her and to his instead. "That's my girlfriend you're staring at Fry"

To be honest, Frypan wanted to laugh, but instead, he smiled "Well if you won't enjoy the view then might as well I help myself"

"Hey peeping Toms! You should come and see this!" Aris called out. Lana, now fully clothed, raised a brow "Peeping toms?"

Newt smiled and shook his head "It's nothing, love" he grabbed Lana's hand as they followed Aris into the next room. They paused when they saw a bunch of mattresses blocking their way. Logan and Tim tried pushing them but it wouldn't move. "What do you think this was for?" Jace wondered aloud.

Logan frowned "A barricade... look, scratch marks" they inspected the mattresses closer, there were scratch and bite marks on the thing. Mike took a step back "Something clearly wanted to keep whatever out"

The electricity suddenly came back, causing every plugged gadget to come to life. Newt and Lana grabbed two extra bags, one for Minho and one for Thomas, both filled with supplies, clothes, food and water.

We ran back to the meeting place, "Lets wait here until they get ba-" "HEY!" We turned our gazes to the other entrance and saw Thomas and Minho running, panic plastered on their faces.

"What's going on?!" Newt shouted at them, Minho just pointed to the opposite door "JUST RUN!"

Newt and I tossed the bags to the two, who grabbed it effortlessly as they ran past us. We heard Zart scream as he looked behind us "CRANKS!"

"Shit!" We all cursed as we ran deeper into the mall, cranks were swarming in from every direction, trying to grab us. They weren't like the two in cloaks from before, these were like the ones back in WICKED. But this time, we had no guns to protect us.

We passed abandoned stores with glass walls, we reached an escalator and went up. The boys were grabbing things and were using them as weapons.

Newt tossed me a baseball bat, I turned around and swung at the nearest Crank, it's blood sprayed on my face as I crushed its head. It was a horrifying sight, but I didn't have time to stop and scream.

I let some of the boys pass ahead of me, swinging my bat as another Crank came too close. I turned and saw Newt still beside me, he was holding a... pipe?

I didn't pay much attention to it since Newt swung it at a Crank, making it fall off the escalator onto the first floor. I peeked out and noticed that we were on the forth floor of the mall.

We ran and caught up with the others, I saw Minho try to memorize the layout of the floor. "There's a parking lot that leads outside!" Minho shouted, we ran again.

Our flashlights were still on and pointed in every direction, I could feel my heart beat faster as the adrenaline took over, we followed Minho with tunnel vision.

I ran beside Newt, his limp made it harder for him to catch up with the others. Thomas slowed down a bit as well, looking back to make sure that we were still behind him.

The glass beside us broke, next thing I knew, a Crank had pinned me to the ground. I tried kicking it off but it kept on wiggling, I blocked its mouth with the body of my bat, it's saliva trickling down to my hands.

I could see it clearer now, it smelled awful as it's skin was decaying with its black veins popping out, it had dead fish eyes and black tongue, and it's scream was terrible. "NEWT! LANA! LOGAN!" The boys screamed.

I looked away from the crank on top of me and saw that Newt was pinned down as well. His pipe broke in two and was trying to push the Crank away.

"Newt!" I screamed, he looked at me with wide eyes "Shit! Lana!" I could hear Logan screaming, I suddenly remembered that he was running behind me earlier.

I looked down to my feet and saw that Logan was hanging by the edge of the mall's balcony. "Logan! Don't let go!" His eyes met mine "Please help me!" He begged. Thomas helped Newt by kicking it off him, "Thanks Tommy"

Aris and Clint rushed to help me, Aris grabbed me as Clint swung a broken chair at it, causing it to fall into the balcony; Sam and Jace both grabbed Logan's hands.

The rest of the boys tried fighting the on coming cranks. "Hurry up!" Logan shouted. A crank dangled on his leg as Logan tried kicking it off, but the crank bit his leg, the boy screamed. As soon as I stood up, I swung my bat to the Crank behind Jace "Pull him up!" Sam let out a wheezing sound "We're trying!"

I looked out the balcony and saw that another crank jumped on the one that bit Logan, now two cranks were dangling. "Shit! We can't hold on!" Jace cursed, Logan panicked "Guys! Guys! My hands are slipping!"

"No! Hold on!" I shouted at him as I hooked my arms around Sam and helped pull him, Magnus and Alec did the same, but Minho turned "More are coming!" With that, he, together with Jack, Mike and Tim, and faced charged at the Cranks.

"Guys! You have to go-AHH!" Logan screamed, the Cranks started clawing and biting him, they were trying to use his body to climb up to us. He gasped and looked at me "GO!"

He loosened his grip, both Jace and Sam panicked "No don't!" You could hear Alec's voice crack. "Take care of them" Logan said one last time before letting them go, he and the Cranks fell.

I looked away, not wanting to see him crash on the floor, the sound was horrifying. I suddenly remembered the fight with the Grievers, how Alby didn't scream as he accepted his death. That was when I realized that Logan didn't scream either.

Newt grabbed my hand and shouted "Minho!" Thomas appeared down the corridor "Over here!" We turned the corner, Jace and Sam slowly following, still running nonetheless "Everybody, hurry up!" Minho screamed as he held a door open.

Cranks came swarming into the corridor that we just entered, both Thomas and Minho were trying the doors, but none of them budged.

Once we reached the far corner, Thomas and Minho started charging the door, Frypan and the others joined in. The Cranks were closing in on us.

I tightened my grip on the bat and swung it as soon as one got close enough. Winston was by my side, "Stay back" I did, he raised up a lighter and a spray can.

He created a makeshift flamethrower. The boys were able to break the lock, they ran through, I grabbed Winston's hand as he dropped the can and lighter to run. You could smell the burnt decaying flesh and hear their awful cries.

Thomas shut the door behind us, "Go ahead! I'll follow!" He shouted. I looked at him hesitantly before running to where Newt and the others were.

We were at the car park, Minho said that we'll have direct access to the outside from here. One side of the parking lot looked like an earthquake hit, a slope of rubble and sand that lead to the outside made it look to good to be true.

It was dark, I had forgotten that the sun was starting to set when they entered the mall.

I looked down and saw Aris and Newt standing by a gigantic rock formation, like a small cave. The Gladers were probably hiding under it. Winston and I quickly ran down and hid as well, we suddenly heard a loud bang, followed by the sounds of Cranks.

Thomas was a fast runner, I've seen him run before, but probably not as fast as this. He dropped down in front of the cave entrance, startling everybody. "You piece of shank! Get down!"

Thomas tucked his head under as we huddled up together. You could only hear the sounds of the Cranks passing by and us, heavily breathing.

When we knew that we were clear, Minho whispered, "we can camp here... I'll take first watch" The boys and I nodded, but were reluctant. Frightened on the thought that Cranks could attack us out in the open.

Vulnerable prey, ready for the taking. Newt was beside me, he looked at me, examining me. "Dont worry, I'm okay" I whispered. He nodded, his eyes seemed to close slightly, he must be exhausted.

I caressed his cheek "Sleep" he absent mindedly nodded once more before falling onto lap. I leaned on the walls of the cave and saw that both Jace and Sam had been really quiet.

Sam had been staring at his hands for a long time, a blank expression on his face "I... I killed him" he whispered in a ghostly tone as the shadow of the moon covered his face.

Stan sat beside him and shook his head, talking in a small voice that only Sam could hear. I looked at Jace, he was comforted by Alec and Magnus, well... I think they were at least.

Besides Newt, Thomas was the first to fall asleep. He had been talking to Jack about how we shouldn't had gone in there, but Jack convinced him otherwise, that we wouldn't last the trials without restocking.

I thought of Logan, how he looked at me and said "Take care of them" he reminded me of Alby. I remembered when I first met him, my heart tightened so I bit my lip, trying not to cry.

A hand hovered my own, the dark made it hard to see who it was until he spoke "You can cry, no one will judge you" it was Aris. I shook my head, completely forgetting that he couldn't see me.

He took the silence as a no and retreated his hand back to his side. "I'm sorry about Logan" "He was a good kid" was all I could say.

Aris didn't ask anymore, he leaned on the wall and the next thing I heard was him sleeping. I checked my watch, it was 8pm, we were in there for quite sometime.

It was still early, but we were tired and ignored eating dinner. Even though Minho took first watch, I noticed how Tim sat beside him and asked if he was fine.

We watched him, knowing him, we thought that he would say that he was totally fine and that we should get some sleep. But he gently shook his head, a frown on his face.

I turned away and closed my eyes as I welcomed sleep as if it were a lost friend.

* * *

Hello lovelies! I have to tell you something, there was a part of the movie that I was so pissed about. During the entire first part, you could see another Glader named Jack.

In the book, Jack is another close friend of Thomas. So close that when he died, Thomas felt as if he had lost another brother, like Chuck.

In the trailer of the Scorch Trials movie, it shows a clip of Jack being dragged down by Cranks, therefore killing him. In the movie, they cut it off entirely.

I was super pissed at this. I loved the movie but I felt bad for the actor and for Jack, the character. To be forgotten just like that.

Next chapter:  
 _"Storm"_

 _The man slumped on the ground had warned us about the upcoming storm. What we didn't except was the pain and loss that we would endure during and after it._


	16. Storm

_~Storm~_

 _I looked over my shoulder as his brown hair touched my cheek, a giggle coming from my lips as my small hands held his. "I'm glad you're safe, Lana" I patted his head "Drama king"_

 _The boy sighed "Is it wrong that I was worried about you?" I shook my head "No, you have every right to"_

Newt couldn't help but wonder if he was intruding on her personal life. He woke up from the sound of Lana, who was in deep sleep, call out a name. _Luke_.

It was strange. This feeling of jealousy that he felt towards a boy he hasn't heard about made him want to hug her. She was his and his alone, his mind thought.

With his head still on her lap, he pushed the falling strands of hair away from her face and smiled. "I know you love her but can you at least try not to be creepy?"

Newt jumped at the sound of Thomas' voice. "Tommy" he breathed, "I should say that about you to Teresa" he didn't have to look at the boy's face to know that he was blushing.

His little crush for Teresa was obvious in Newt's eyes. Although Teresa cherishes Thomas like a brother, or so he thought until Thomas told them about the kiss they shared.

Thomas stood up "I'll scout around, make sure that there aren't any Cranks around" Newt nodded "Be careful Tommy" he watched as Thomas cautiously peeked his head out the cave entrance and finally stepped out.

Newt sat up and scanned the area. It was sunrise, well, he wouldn't have known if not for his wrist watch, the Sun hasn't gone up yet. The Gladers, including Lana, were still asleep.

He noticed how the boy's huddled up together in groups of two to four. Aris slept, leaning on the wall beside Lana, his head facing her. Newt thought that the boy was friendly, he always helped Lana and the others.

But Newt noticed that he always helped Lana. Another pang of jealousy surged through him, but he shook his head. He couldn't think of it that way, if not for Aris, Lana might have joined Logan down at the bottom of the mall.

The thought of Logan made him bite the inside of his mouth. Another one of them died, even though he promised Alby to watch over them, he let another Glader die.

He should have been the one, Logan didn't have to follow behind if Lana wasn't there, she was only there to make sure that I was safe, and Logan, who made a strong connection to her, wanted her safe as well.

Newt thought that he should have been the one to die back in the mall, back in the pitch black corridor, back in the Maze in Alby's stead. Alby should have been here. He would know what to do. Unlike himself. I should have just di-.

"Newt" He was torn away from his thoughts when he heard Lana's voice, the voice that always seemed to pull him back from his awful thoughts. She sat there, half awake.

She rubbed her eyes and gave him a lazy smile "You're up early" she mumbled after checking her watch. Lana noticed how he looked at her as if she was an angel that came down from heaven.

She held his hand "What's wrong?" Newt brought her hand to his cheek and mumbled "I love you" Lana could feel her cheeks flushing, she pulled him close to her, an "I love you" escaping her lips.

"Too early to flirt. Go back to sleep." Winston groaned, Newt noticed that he too was beside Lana. In fact, almost all of them were near her, as if she were a... Newt suddenly laughed.

Lana stared at him in confusion "What's so funny?" Newt grinned, he took her hand in his "I really love you". "Seriously guys, Winston was right. Waaaaaay to early in the morning for this" Jeff whined before covering his head under his own sheets.

The two smiled at each other and separated, Thomas came back with a knowing look on his face. "Any news?" Lana had spoken to him first, Thomas nodded "The cranks, from what I could see, are gone"

"The mountains look as if they're getting further away..." He trailed off when Minho spoke. "We should get going then, no point staying here" the three nodded and shook the others awake.

Bran shook Stan and Sam awake before realizing that the two were leaning against each other in their sleep. Sam was the first one to wake up, he smiled lazily when he noticed Stan beside him. Bran chuckled before leaving the two alone.

Lana looked from Sam to Jace, hoping that the two were feeling better. She frowned again at the thought of Logan, he reminded of when Alby and Chuck died.

 _Mourning won't help you get out of here_ , the voice spoke in my head. It was funny, she sounded like me and yet I know she isn't me. But she was right, we had to keep moving. I haven't told Newt yet, but I've been hearing her voice in a regular basis.

The memories that we I've been seeing in my dreams are probably her doing too. With the help of the Griever antidote, she started talking regularly over time.

I wonder how long it will take before I can actually hold a conversation with her. It'll be creepy but I have some questions for her. But at least she hasn't taken over my voice for days now.

We grabbed our things and started moving again, the Sun was slowly rising as we walked more past broken down buildings. "What the... guys check this out" Jack called out from up ahead. We stopped on our tracks when we saw this covered up lump moving?

"Is that a person?" Thomas asked as he slowly approached the lump. Minho grabbed his shoulder "It might be a crank" he hissed.

 _It's a crank, not hostile._ "I'll check it out" I muttered. Wait. What? I didn't say that. _Just go already, we don't have much time._

Fine. So much for not taking over my voice. I was about to start walking until a flash of lightning shot through the sky, followed by the loud sound of thunder. The lump jumped, his cloak falling from his face. It was an old man, and he was afraid. As soon as he saw us, he did a motion and shouted "Run away! The storm is coming! RUN!"

Minho and Thomas ordered that we had to leave and find shelter, the nearest building was a bit far from here, but if we ran fast enough, we could make it. _Well, most of you will._

I didn't bother asking what she meant by that. We had to move. The wind blew hard to the point where most of us lost our grips on our sheets. Instead of the sun coming out, the sky was dark and covered with clouds. I started counting the boys, this became a habit since we were in the dark corridor.

17, 18, 1- wait. We were missing one. "Where's Winston?" I called out. Tim turned and pointed to the back of the group, Winston was trying to help the man in the cloak.

"Go ahead! I don't want to leave him behind!" He shouted as me. The man struggled, he obviously didn't want any help. Before I could say anything, Jack suddenly grabbed my hand and shouted "Newt would be furious if I let you go back! C'mon!"

I turned and shouted to Winston "Hurry up and meet us there, okay?!" He just smiled and nodded. Then, we ran. The lightning struck close to where we were running, thunder roared the sky, and rain suddenly fell from the sky like nukes on a country. I couldn't hear that clearly nor see for that matter.

The quantity of rain made the sand on our feet feel like we were running on mud, slowing us down. I saw others falling and slipping, others ran to help the ones that fell. But I noticed one thing, Thomas and Minho never stopped running.

Nobody wants to die, even those two. I shook my head. They're not like that. I ran with Jack still by my side, we passed a few Gladers and shouted for them to hurry up. I heard someone scream a name, I didn't quite catch it since it was drowned away by the loud rain. We finally caught up to Thomas, Newt and Minho.

The others were right behind us, but so was the storm. I heard more names being shouted, but we didn't have time to look back. It took me a while to realize that I has on the ground. Lightning struck where we once stood.

When I saw the small crater on the ground, I understood. Jack pushed me as far away as he could and was struck by lightning. I crawled down and the sight made me wish that I didn't bother to look. He was alive, but suffering.

Not again. I looked at Jack's body, his clothes were burnt, and his skin was dark and bloody. It's my fault. I looked up and saw that Thomas was broken hearted as well. Right, those two were close.

Minho grabbed my hand and shouted something that I couldn't hear over the rain. I didn't say a word, I pulled my hand away from him and ran as fast as I could. But the three still stayed close to me. Another lightning struck, but this time, it was closer to Minho, who was right beside me. All four of us were flung by the impact of the lightning.

It was deafening, the only sound you could hear was a high pitched screeching. I opened my eyes and saw that my vision was a bit blurry, but when it returned to normal, I saw that Minho's clothes were on fire.

Frypan, Zart, and Clint arrived, they started putting out the fire. Thomas got up and helped as well. I saw Aris run towards me, "You okay?" I looked around and saw Newt with Jeff.

"Yeah, I'm okay" Aris nodded "Let's get out of here" Frypan and the others carried Minho as we ran to shelter. Inside, we all collapsed. I huddled up in a corner near the entrance, my eyes closing automatically from exhaustion.

 _He's here_. Was the last thing I heard her say before I fell into a deep sleep.

 _I stared at the boy in front of me, brown hair and familiar brown eyes, "Every title has to have a meaning" he nodded back and smiled "It has to reflect who you are" he added, I scanned the files as we thought of respective titles._

 _"We still haven't thought of our titles yet" he mused, I couldn't help but ask "Then what would you like to be called?"_ _He leaned back on his chair and smirked "What would you name me?" I couldn't help but smile and said "The Guardian"_

Water dripping on my face woke me from my sleep, my head was pounding and my body was sore. It felt as if I hadn't moved in hundreds of years.

I noticed that most of the boys were still asleep, Newt included. I slowly sat up, I felt the dryness in my mouth as I tried to talk to Clint. He was going around, checking for injuries. "Is everyone alright?" I croaked. Clint handed me a flask of water, his expression didn't change.

"We... lost a couple of boys" I turned my head and counted. We were missing seven people. "Who?" _You know already who's missing._ Clint sighed "Jack, Tim, Stan, Winston, Mike, Brandon and... Jeff"

I looked at him, Clint's eyes were red and swollen, I opened my arms and gave him the biggest hug that i could give "Im sorry" he smiled "He was my best friend"

I thought of Winston, "But he was behind us, Winston said that he would follow" Clint sat beside her, "With that wound, it was practically a sacrifice when he saved that old crank"

Stan... I looked for Sam, he was sitting by the entrance, staring at the dark scene before him. It was night. "They were really close friends back in the maze." I then remembered Tim, Mike and Brandon. Those three were inseparable the entire time... Sam was probably mourning them too.

Jack, I looked at Thomas and remembered how heartbroken he looked. Thomas was still asleep, Minho and Newt were beside him. "How's Minho?" "Hanging on" was the last thing I heard before i felt a pang in my head, causing me to faint.

 _I've done the full body and mind scan, now the data should be in our program. "Are you sure it's safe to leave this project in their hands?" The boy, who I named the guardian, asked._

 _I smiled "Don't worry, our copies are perfect. Even if I follow the plan and leave the base, they won't get their hands on paradise"_

I woke up to the sound of Newt and Thomas talking. They were talking about Minho. I opened my eyes, Newt sat in front of me with worry in his eyes. I mustered up a smile.

I could see from the corner of my eyes that the sun was out, the rain stopped. Minho suddenly groaned, Thomas was by his side while Newt came to mine. I could hear Minho complain as he talked to Thomas. I sat up beside Newt, we made our way to Minho and Thomas.

"Does anyone know how many we are?" Minho asked, I frowned and said "Twelve... we lost seven boys" when I told them who the boys were, the three were silent. Minho covered his mouth as he tried to sink it in "I'm a terrible leader" Thomas pat his back "No, you're not. C'mon let's try to find some supplies and food"

Get ready, they're coming. Who? I wondered as an unfamiliar voice sounded "Food?" We jumped in our places and looked up from where it came from. A man poked his head out, a smile on his face as he jumped down from the hole above. "Who are you?" Thomas asked. The man smiled "I'm Jorge, I'm the Crank leader in this city"

* * *

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year lovelies! How have you all been? So far I've been through a lot. But I've dealt with most of it.

I have my thesis and it's a pain. But are you guys enjoying the holidays? Tell me about them! Btw, if you have a tumblr, follow me. Ryuyalana. We can chat there.

 _Next chapter:_

 _"Cranks"_

 _Jorge brought us to their base, Cranks surrounded us, just in case we tried to escape. "Now, tell us who's in charge here?"_


	17. Crank

_~Crank~_

Newt whispered "Wear your hood up and stay behind me" I did as he said, tucking my short hair behind my ears and quickly pulling my hood up.

Jorge. The leader of the Cranks. _Huh, that's new to hear._ What is? _That cranks work on a hierarchy status._ Is it really that hard to believe? I asked, but she didn't reply. Oh well, thanks for the chat.

But I had to admit, I was surprised as well. I mean, we've seen different kinds of Cranks. The only normal ones were the ones wearing cloaks, but the rest were crazy.

After Jorge jumped down, more cranks followed. The Gladers had a natural reaction, which was to huddle up as quickly as they could and stand their ground. I hid behind Newt, peeking from behind his shoulder to watch the cranks.

Jorge strode forward towards us, eyeing every single one as he passed by "A group of boys lost in the Scorch, tell me, has any of you turned into one of us yet?" Minho struggled to keep standing, "Lucky for us, no" he grinned.

Jorge looked at Minho from head to toe "And I suppose you're the leader of this group of boys?" Minho stood up straight "You bet I am" Jorge clapped his hands and grinned "Excellent, mind if I ask, where did you come from?" With a glance at Thomas, Minho answered "None of your business"

This wiped off the grin from the crank's face "Oh really?" He chuckled before smiling once more.

"Then, who are you?" Thomas answered, "We'd like to know the same thing". Jorge's smile wavered, "I've clearly introduced myself, unlike you children, who trespass on other people's property!"

"Technically, we didn't know that anyone would be living in this abandoned building" Minho defended, Thomas sighed "Look, we're just here to rest and then we're gone"

"To where exactly? It doesn't seem like you kids know where you're going" Minho muttered "Far away from your ugly as- umph!" Thomas silenced him by elbowing him in the stomach as Jorge watched with amused eyes.

"Just give us one day, then we're going to leave" Jorge raised a brow "Then a fee must be paid" Thomas looked at the gladers, "But we don't have anymore food or water" the crank leader sighed.

The cranks behind him started moving closer, swinging their weapons around, hoping to hit something. "You need to pay and I wasn't talking about food"

His gaze swept across the room until it landed on mine, "No, something much more... precious. You've even kept something from me, a gem. And if you want to leave here alive, then hand her over."

My grip on Newt's shirt tightened as I pulled myself closer to his back. "We don't know what you're talking about" Minho defended, Thomas shifted until he blocked Newt and I from his line of sight.

* * *

Aris, Clint and Frypan slowly surrounded Lana, shielding her from all sides. Jorge chuckled, his crank minions slowly approaching the injured gladers. "Don't test me, Hermano. I know a girl when I see one."

He frowned when he noticed that Minho and the gladers weren't going to give Lana up "Get the girl" The cranks jumped into action. The gladers fought the cranks as they dared to come closer, Minho lunged at their leader, knocking him into the ground.

Somewhere in the back of Lana's mind, she could clearly hear the voice say, _You should've kept the bat_. She cursed, none of them had weapons to use except for a couple of pans, rope, and knives. The gladers were far too busy to notice that their leader had been knocked down.

"Give me the girl or this boy dies" Jorge shouted, everyone turned to see Minho on the ground with a gun pointed at the temple of his skull. Thomas and Newt were about to charge at him, Jorge removed the safety. _Trust them_ , the voice said to her.

"One more step and I'll shoot" He tilted his head towards Lana, "Now... The girl, if you please" Newt and the other gladers watched as Lana slowly approached the nearest crank, she removed her hood "I'll go with you, but return Minho to them"

The nearest crank removed their hood, underneath was a girl. "Don't worry, Jorge is a man of his word" Before Lana could take another step, Newt grabbed her hand, she looked at him and smiled "It's okay"

As they made the exchange, Jace noticed that the cranks were distracted, he acted quickly by punching one in the gut and moving on to the others. Lana stared in shock as the other gladers followed and started attacking once more.

Thomas quickly grabbed Minho and handed him to Clint, he had to help the others fight again.

"You know. I really was going to let you go, but... never mind. Capture all of them!" Jorge commanded before hitting Lana at the back of the head with the butt of the gun, knocking her out in the process. Newt screamed and tried to reach her until he was blocked by the female crank.

She had a frown on her face, "You should've just listened to him!" she shouted before knocking him out like the rest of them. "Brenda" She snapped, "What?!"

When she noticed who called her, she immediately regretted snapping, the boy sighed as he watched the cranks pick up the unconscious gladers, "I think you hit him too hard" Brenda rolled her eyes, "Oh please, you're just too soft"

He picked Lana up in his arms, carrying her bridal style, "Really, all this mess just to see her again" she commented as the boy smiled "All a part of the plan", Brenda sighed, "Next time, you and Jorge should just leave me out of your plans"

He chuckled, "Now, where's the fun in that?"

* * *

Newt slowly opened his eyes as his head pounded, he winced at the spot light pointed at them as he noticed that the room was upside down. Just when he thought that he was alone, he noticed his fellow gladers.

All of them had their feet tied up and hung upside down, letting the blood rush to their heads. "Does anyone else feel like puking?" Frypan asked. Newt looked up, well... down, and saw that they were above a pit that was at least 6 floors up.

He gulped and never wanted to look back. Newt heard Thomas groan, "What happened?" he croaked. Newt heard Alec answer, "Jace wasn't thinking, again." He couldn't see the rest of the boys behind him, but he heard Jace shout, "Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't want them to take Lana!"

Newt's eyes widened, "She's not here?!" the gladers could hear the panic in his voice. "Newt-" Minho tried to comfort him, but he didn't know how to. Newt wiggled around, his binds were tight around his legs, "I need to find her" he mumbled to himself.

But before he could do anything else, Jorge appeared through the door. "Don't worry, the girl is safe... For now." "Where is she?!" Jorge sighed, "She's fine, unlike you boys"

Jorge sighed "Really, all we wanted was Lana and you boys could've been on your way" Newt grit his teeth, Thomas casted a worried glance to Newt before turning to Jorge, "What do you want with her?"

Jorge leaned against the wall, watching them hang, "We have someone that has been practically dying to see her. Now, about where you came from-" Minho spat "We ain't telling you jack shit!" the crank rolled his eyes.

"You don't need to, the tattoo on your neck says it all. You're from WICKED." Some of the boys stiffened, the rest were just plain frustrated. "And what does that mean to you?" Thomas spoke in Minho's behalf.

Jorge grabbed a chair and took a seat, he stared at the boys "Do you have the feeling like the whole world's against you?" Frypan mumbled, "Well we ARE hanging upside-down, 6 ft from the ground."

The crank didn't hear him, "I have two questions; Where are you going? and how can I profit?" The gladers stared at him in confusion. "Why should we tell you?" if Thomas wasn't tied up, he probably would have elbowed Minho.

"I don't think you understand the situation you're in." Newt frowned, "He's right. He has Lana and we're hanging for our lives" Thomas waited for Minho's signal before he could tell the crank the truth. "We're heading north, past the mountains."

"There's nothing there" another voice entered, it was the girl that hit Newt before. "Nothing there?" she shrugged, "Been past that area before. Just a big open area."

The boys stared at each other before Jorge continued, "Why are you heading there?" "We we're told that we could reach a safe haven there. If we did within less than a week, they would give us the cure"

When Thomas mentioned the cure, the look on Jorge and the girl's face was priceless. It was as if they found out where the fountain of youth was. They watched as the two had a quick and quiet argument among themselves.

"This could be our chance!" he whispered almost too loudly for his taste, but the girl commented, "A chance to get ourselves killed for nothing!" Jorge had the widest grin, "But think about it Brenda! We could have the cure! We could save ourselves!"

"What if it's a trap? What if they're here to lure us into a crank mass murder operation?!" The girl named Brenda was worried, "They wouldn't keep these kids here if all they wanted was to kill them in the first place. This is what _he_ was talking about!"

"Who?" Thomas interrupted their debate, the two glanced at each other. "is this person the one who has Lana?" Jorge sighed "You're going to meet him anyway. Know that Lana is the most important person to him, he'd kill for her, even remove his memories and be thrown into this hell for her."

"Who is he?"

* * *

He stared at her sleeping figure, he had placed her down on a make-shift bed and a blanket over her to keep her warm. "I'm sorry, you had to experience that all on your own, don't worry, I'm here now." he took her hand in his and gently kissed it, "Seriously... You and your stupid reckless plans are going to get you killed one day."

"You're giving me the creeps." He rolled his eyes, "Then remember to knock next time, Brenda." She huffed as she sat on the chair beside him. Her eyes roaming to Lana's unconscious figure, "Anyway, I'm glad Lana's safe. Should we continue with the plan L1 or L2?"

He gave a shoo motion with his hand, "Go bother Jorge and the boys while I think." "Aye-aye boss number 2!" With a teasing wink, she left the room.

He could still hear the thunder from outside, "Please wake up. I need to talk to you." He pleaded. ' _You know why she can't'_ the voice in his head remarked. "Shut up. I don't need you to state the obvious." _'Then let's just go with plan L2, who knows when she'll regain consciousness.'_

"I get it. So please, shut up." then there was silence. He reached down and grabbed the case from underneath the bed, it revealed a 2 serums. The first serum, titled " **1** " was used in the Maze, it was the serum implanted on the Grievers to cause the Change, while the other serum, titled " **2** " was used as the prevention of the change.

L2, inject Lana with serum 1 to inflict the change, this will cause more of her memories to return and use serum 2 to prevent her from changing. _'Well, its not like we_ _ **need**_ _serum 2. But I guess we can never be too careful'_

He sighed, stupid voice just didn't know when to stop talking. "Let's start."

After injecting serum 1, Lana's body started to convulse, a scream pierces its way into the quiet room, luckily, no one can hear them outside. After all, this room was made for this purpose. Now all he could do was wait.

* * *

 _"Do you think that this will work?" I chuckled at the boy in front of me, "Of course it will. We've run the simulations and tests, we have a 80% chance of success." He glared at me, "I don't care if it was 100%! If it means getting you stuck in there with those Grievers and Cranks, without your memories, then I won't let you!"_

 _"Don't worry, remember? Phase 2 of the plan is you coming to get me" "Yes, but this is-" I smiled at him, "I'll be fine. You're my guardian after all, nothing bad will happen as long as I can get back to you." Without another word, he pulled me into a tight embrace. "Please be safe in there." he muttered on my shoulder._

 _"Always. Plus, I'll have Newt in there with me." He smiled, "Yeah, say hi to him for me."_

I felt as if I had been electrocuted, my lungs gasped for air as my eyes were wide and hazy. The room spun as I blinked, trying to recollect my thoughts. A name kept repeating at the back of my mind, over and over.

Until a hand grabbed my own. I looked to my side and saw him. I saw the boy from my visions, the I called 'The guardian', suddenly, the name in the back of my head made sense. The overflowing memories of him made me tear up.

How could I forget this person? The one person so close to me. Closer than Newt ever was. My other half.

"Luke..." I watched as his brown eyes widen to me mentioning his name. A smile cracks my lips as I hold back a sob, "Luke! LUKE!" at this, he wraps his arms around me into a tight embrace. "Oh, Lana. My sweet, sweet Lana."

Tears fell as my quiet sobs escape my lips, "I-I'm so sorry." Luke started to caress my hair, the familiar feeling of his hand brushing my hair was soothing, "Shh... It's okay. You don't need to apologize. I'm just glad that you're alright."

"You found me!" I held him tighter. Before Luke could say anything more, a loud beeping noise came from the case. Luke's quickly let me go to open the case, inside were two empty serums. On the back of the lid was a screen, it was like a radar. "Shit!" He cursed.

"What is it?!" "WICKED. We have to go NOW!" Luke shut the case and grabbed a few items and stuffed them in a bag. After quickly grabbing my hand, we ran out the room, "Where are the others?" "We're heading there now!"

* * *

"Who?" Thomas interrupted their debate, the two glanced at each other. "is this person the one who has Lana?" Jorge sighed "You're going to meet him anyway. Know that Lana is the most important person to him, he'd kill for her, even remove his memories and be thrown into this hell for her."

"Who is he?"

The door to the room suddenly burst open, two figures entered. The first figure was a boy, he shouted at the two Cranks, "Jorge, WICKED is coming, get them down!" Jorge was quick to act and immediately helped the boys down.

"Brenda, grab the emergency bag and I'll meet you by the passage." With that, the girl was out of the room. The second figure caused the boys to suddenly react and ask questions, "Wait guys. I'm alright. We need to get out of here! I'll explain later!."

Seeing the worried and urgent look on Lana's face,the boys decided to hold their questions for later.

Minho and Thomas were the first ones off the ropes, trying to help Jorge and the boy they didn't know, Luke, to get the others down. The building suddenly came to life with the sounds of gun fire around it. "Is WICKED stupid!?" Luke hissed as he quickly untied Newt.

Newt immediately ran towards Lana, engulfing her in a tight embrace. "You're okay." She pecked his cheek before shouting to Luke, "Where do we go?". After Jorge helped the last boy off the rope, he darted out the room, "Follow me!"

Before heading out, Luke opened a trunk, inside were their bags. Another round of gun fire was heard throughout the building. Brenda suddenly came rushing in to where we were, "Hurry! WICKED soldiers are downstairs!"

Both Luka and Brenda took the lead as the Gladers followed. The building that they were in looked like a manufacturing warehouse. They were on the top level of the building, the group could see men shooting at each other from the bottom floor, screams and gunfire filled the building.

Ducking into another room, the Gladers saw Jorge fiddling with a switch, "Oh Hell... Really!?" They heard Brenda shout in disbelief. Thomas looked worried, "Why? What's going on?" Luke didn't bother listening in and opened a secret door that led to the outside, a zip line connected to the other building. "Let's go!"

Jorge smiled at Thomas, "Don't worry, I'm just going to play them my favorite song" Brenda rolled her eyes before realizing that she left something important. Jorge pressed the switch, the sound of music flooded the speakers of the building, Luke panicked and told them to go out the window.

"Go!", Minho took a deep breath, "Cmon you Shanks!" He took hold of the zip line around his waist and jumped out. The rest followed. The ones left were Thomas, Brenda, Newt, Luke, Lana, and Jorge. "Lana, go ahead of me!" She looked at Newt and Luke in panic, "I'll see you both at the other side!" She shouted before jumping out.

Luke quickly gave Newt the next harness and watched him jump out. Jorge was next, shouting that they needed to hurry. Luke turned to look for Brenda and Thomas but he couldn't find them. "BRENDA!" He shouted. "She's looking for something, go ahead, I'll wait for her" Thomas shouted from behind a shelf. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped the zip line around himself. "Hurry!" And jumped.

Luke was midway through the zip line, he could even see Lana at the end, waiting for him. He looked up as a helicopter light was shining on him, he cursed under his breath, hoping that the stupid zip line could go faster. But then, the song came to an end and the building exploded, he turned to look behind him. Luke's eyes widened in realization, Brenda and Thomas hadn't gotten out yet. Before he could scream their names, the zip line wire snapped.

"SHIT!"

* * *

Hi guys. Sorry for not uploading for a veeeeery long time. Honestly, I didn't have the motivation to do so. But I really like this story and I really want to see it till the end. But please be patient with me since I'm in my senior year of college and I won't be able to have as much time for any extra activities as I used to. Thank you guys so much for reading till this point, please feel free to talk to me about anything or if you have any scene suggestions or your own OCs.

 _Next chapter:_

 _"The Guardian"_

 _Thomas and Brenda were no where to be found from the explosion. Now that her Guardian and some parts of her memories were back, Lana would have to explain the new clue to the Scorch and who her guardian really is._


	18. Guardian

_~Guardian~_

Lana landed on the 5th floor of the abandoned building; Jorge and the rest of the Gladers were there to make sure she landed safely. Behind her, followed Newt, and without hesitation, Newt went to her and held her face in his hands. A sigh of relief came out when she looked unharmed. But he noticed that she was distracted, he followed her line of sight to see the boy she was with earlier, about to jump out of the building and zip line towards their location.

"What are those shanks doing?!" Minho hissed as they waited for Thomas, Brenda, and the boy to follow them. "Clear way for the next person!" Jorge instructed as they all witnessed the boy slowly make his way down the zip line. "Hurry up" Jorge whispered to himself when he noticed that the song was coming to an end.

Lana was waiting anxiously at the end of the zip line. But then the explosion happened, the next thing they knew, Lana screamed, "LUKE!"

"Sir! We have visual on Subject WCKD01 and Subject WCKD02!" Janson turned to stare out the helicopter window, that's when he saw Lana by the abandoned building, while Luke rode the zip line. "Don't fire! If anything should happen to the two, I'll shoot you myself."

The helicopter turned to shine a light on Luke as he zipped down, but the explosion to their left caused the helicopter to abruptly jerk to the right. Janson heard it, the sound of Lana screaming, he felt like screaming too.

"Shit!" Luke had to think fast as the line snapped from the end of the base, he quickly gripped the wire and held on for his dear life. Good thing he had gloves on, or he would've had rope burn. He clenched his jaw as the wire swung towards the abandoned building.

He hoped that he'd hit a window and not the building's outer wall. Luck was... Somewhat by his side. Luke was lucky to have hit a window; the only problem was now the glass shards that punctured his left arm. His body and his hands ached in pain.

Luke could barely register the hands that suddenly pulled him close when he finally fainted.

The Gladers watched in terror and fright as the boy fell, but then he managed to swing into the 2nd floor of the building. Jorge cursed and quickly instructed everyone to follow him down the stairs.

Lana ran as quickly as her feet could carry her, while Newt was slowly coming into a sudden realization to what Lana had screamed earlier. She called the boy, "Luke". That was Luke, the boy she kept talking about in her sleep. Jealousy suddenly surged, but he had to quickly discard it as they reached the 2nd floor.

In front of them, was Luke's bloodied body surrounded by broken glass. Clint, Lana, and Jorge ran to the boy's side. Lana pulled the boy's head unto her lap, Clint started removing the glass slowly from his arm, and Jorge held the boy down every time he screamed and jerked in pain.

"Wait! What about Tommy and that other crank girl?!" Newt panicked, Jorge looked out the window to see the base that they've used for their mission was now destroyed. "Don't worry, Brenda's a smart girl. There was more than one way to escape the base, I'm sure she and your friend survived."

"Please hold him!" Clint agitatedly shouted at Jorge as Luke started screaming. Lana bit her lip, almost drawing blood as she stared whispering to the unconscious boy, "You're okay. I'm here... You're alive. Just a little bit more." Alec handed her a cloth as they started to wipe some of the blood off before placing on the bandage wrap. "Lana, who is he?" Newt couldn't stop himself from asking. "He's-"

Minho and the other Gladers were checking the perimeter and when they noticed WICKED soldiers making their way towards the abandoned building, "What's happening? Why is WICKED after us?" Minho asked. "It's not you they're after, Hermano. They're looking for Luke." when Lana asked "Why?" Jorge didn't say anything. Minho sighed, "Let's go before they catch us."

Jorge nodded when Clint managed to hurriedly wrap the rest of the bandage on Luke's arm, "Alright Hermano, follow me." Frypan and Jace carried Luke as they all passed through a secret passage.  
The passage led through tunnels underground; there were old and rusty tracks on the ground.  
They were on an abandoned subway track.

"Until I say so, everyone needs to keep their mouths shut; we don't know what's down here." Aris raised a brow, "What do you mean 'You don't know'?! I thought you knew where this led?!" Jorge sighed and muttered something about them being Children.

"I meant that, I don't know if there will be any WICKED operatives down here. So shut your trap and follow me."  
With that, the Gladers moved through the dark tunnels, with only their flashlights as their source of light, and the sounds of their breathing mixed with their footsteps echoed through the tunnels.

Thoughts swirled around Lana's head as she had an internal fight with the voice in her head. ' _I suggest you tell them'_ everything?  
' _It's better than lying. You'll be able to save their lives this way.'_

Ever since she woke up, Lana realized what the two empty vials were. They were used as the main serums for the crank venom and the cure to prevent the change. Luke had used both on her. Her memories were slowly returning, most of them were hazy, but she could make out from most of them that Luke coming out here wasn't a part of WICKED's plan.

She was going to have to tell the others who the boy really was, her own origins were a bit of a blur, but Lana knew that she and Luke were a big part of WICKED, and they both disobeyed orders and ran off to the Trials.  
They betrayed WICKED. That's what she understood. But why would they let her live? Why would Janson look relieved to see Lana if he saw her as a traitor? And if Luke betrayed them too, why didn't they shoot him earlier? Maybe they wanted him alive?

Lana shook her head, now wasn't the time for those thoughts. They had to get away from those WICKED soldiers as soon as possible. They walked for what seemed like an eternity, everyone was tired and wounded from the storm.  
Some of the Gladers would whisper as quietly as possible, most of them asked each other if they were okay, or who would carry Luke next. Lana noticed that Newt had matched her pace and walked beside her.

It plagued his thoughts. The thought of who this mysterious boy was and what he meant to the girl he loved. He wondered that maybe, just maybe, if the time comes, who would she choose to go with?

Even though he had a difficult time doing so, he finally caught up and matched her pace. His leg practically screaming at him to stop and rest. Lana probably noticed since she started to slow down, her flashlight pointed at the ground by both their feet as she looked at him. "Newt, are you okay?" She asked first, she always asked first.

Newt hated that about her, "You should worry more about yourself." He halfheartedly scolded. Lana grabbed his empty hand as they walked; her hand warmed his in the cold tunnel. "Sorry," she muttered, "I'm just worried about you, Newt." God, he could never win with her.

He brought their linked hands and kissed her fingers. "I know, but I worry about you too." He knew that their voices are not in a whisper anymore, he knew that the rest of the Gladers had turned silent, he knew that every word they said had bounced off the tunnel walls, but he didn't care.

"I know you can still hear her, the other you, the _Lana_ before the Maze. I know that you still have visions and that you sometimes wake up crying, wiping them off before you think I didn't notice." Newt watched as she frowned, her eyes downcast as they continued walking with the others.

"You shouldn't have to hide it from me, Lana. You know that I'm here for you, we're all here for you," Newt leaned in towards her, trying to whisper in this dead silent tunnel. "I love you, so when you're with me, at least be as selfish as you want."

He watched her nod in the darkness, "Alright, when we set up camp, I'll tell you everything." she whispered.

After a couple of minutes of silence, he heard some of the boys sigh. Some mumbled something that had to do with him and Lana. "What?" Newt asked, Minho waved his flashlight in the air as he joked "Oh nothing, we're just glad that you two stopped flirting with each other. But kinda annoyed that you're holding hands with a girl."

Newt rolled his eyes as the boys snickered, "The lot of you better shut your traps before WICKED soldiers find us." Jorge chuckled, "Don't worry Hermano, we've reached our destination." He looked ahead to see Jorge opening a door at the side of the tunnel.

"Where does this lead to?" Aris asked as he followed Minho through the door. "This subway used to be connected to a mall, but it closed down during the early spread of the virus, causing a lot of people coming down here in refuge to hide from the flare. Didn't last long, they all died or became cranks at the end."

Alec said the question that we were too tired to ask, "Then where are the dead bodies or the cranks? We didn't see a single body down here?" Jorge turned to the boy, a small smirk on the corner of his mouth, "Well that's a secret, Hermano."

They left it at that and climbed up the stairs. The Gladers ended up, like what Jorge said, at the ground floor of an abandoned mall. Lana looked around skeptically as Jorge walked towards a power box. "I don't think that's a good idea." Minho said before Jorge reached the box.

"Why not? It's dark, plus Luke and all of you need medical attention. There's an old pharmacy by the 2nd floor, and someone would get hurt if all we have are flashlights." Jorge saw the Gladers look at each other with a conflicted expression. Lana bit her lip as she asked, "Have you checked the whole building? Are you sure we're safe from the cranks?"

Jorge chuckled, "You're forgetting Hermana, I'm a crank as well." Something in Lana expression says that she didn't believe him at all. "But yes, we've scouted the whole building and blocked off all entrances besides the roof top."

Above them were 5 floors up, that means if they were going to leave this place, they'd have to get up there. "So no need to worry your pretty little head about others coming in alright?" The Gladers gave a hesitant nod, Jorge smiled, "Alrighty then." and turned on the power.

Unlike the other mall, only the lights turned on. They guessed none of the other appliances were plugged or were busted. Newt still had Lana's hand in his as they all turned off their flashlights.  
In the other mall, you could tell that refugees stayed there with all the mess of camping gear and appliances around, in this mall however, was clear of any obstacles or stray appliances. It was as if the mall was never abandoned at all, like they were back to a time where everything was fine. No flare, no cranks, nothing.

They wouldn't even be surprised if a bunch of people came through the front door to go shopping.

"Luke wanted us to clean the place up. Asked us to make sure that no one gets in the way of our escape." Jorge gestured to the area surrounding them, "So we did this!" He exclaimed in glee. "Ugh..." All eyes snap to Luke, who is still unconscious between Frypan and Jace.

Jorge's expression turned back into its serious look, "The pharmacy, and hurry!"

At the 2nd floor to the right side of the escalator, there was a pharmacy; at the back was a clinic just in case anyone collapsed in the mall. They placed Luke on the bed by the wall; Lana took a seat beside him and examined his wounds. Clint ordered the Gladers, Aris, and Jorge to look for bandages, and other things he needed.

Luke's shallow cuts stopped bleeding, but the cuts by his arm still bled. It was a deep wound, and the bandage that they placed earlier was now drenched in blood. Clint stitched it and wrapped it again in bandages. "This should hopefully hold longer than the other one did. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

Lana sighed in relief. From the corner of her eye, she saw the boys as they refilled their supplies. "Take all you need boys; no one is going to need them anyway." Jorge encouraged. He pointed to them the different stores to find clothes, canned foods, camping gear, and water, everything they needed in this hell hole.

Since they practically lost everything after that storm.

Clint turned to everyone with injuries, even the smallest cut, he decided to put on medicine and reduce their pain as much as he could while they had an excess amount of supplies.

Jorge curiously asked why they were so scared about him turning on the lights; Magnus and Aris laughed nervously and told them our experience in the previous day. Newt's head started to hurt, the whole mall incident happened just a day ago, but it felt like it happened a very long time ago.

So many things happened one after the other, so many lives lost, they shouldn't be relaxing by a heater in the cold night at the pharmacy of an abandoned mall. They should be out there, grieving for their lost friends, trying to get to the meet up point. But they couldn't, they're tired of walking, of running, of grieving.

Minho preferred it that way too. Lana saw him start to relax, but every now and then, she could see his body and eyes on high alert at the smallest of unknown sounds. He caught her staring so he smiled; Lana did the same, as if nothing's happened.

Ever since she came, ever since they left the Glade, she's noticed the smallest of changes in everyone. Minho has become more alert, his body on constant stress and on edge. Thomas has become more serious, the burden of being a leader is on his shoulders, the burden of him being the reason to why they left the Glade. Newt has become more anxious, you can see it in his eyes that he is afraid of losing more people that mean so much to him, he is afraid of losing Lana.

Ever since they left the Glade, the three of them had the most obvious change. Lana wonders if she's changed as well. _Of course you have. You all have._ The voice in her head says with certainty. _We are women of science, Lana. You must remember that a change in environment will trigger humans to adapt to their surroundings for survival._

Sometimes Lana hated the way her inner self spoke, like she's not one of them, not human. She pushed the thought away as Newt walked to where she sat beside Luke. "Hungry?" Newt asked as he handed her some type of food that Fry made. They ate in silence, listening to Jorge as he discussed on where they were going.

They caught Aris staring at them, obviously contemplating on his next words. "Who is he?" Was his question. It was a very broad question. With all eyes now on Lana, she had no choice but to sigh, "This is Luke... He's my older twin brother."

I then explained everything that I knew.  
I was injected by Serum 1, the same venom used by Grievers to cause the change. This triggered my memories again, they came to me all at once, but some were in a blur, others were as clear as day. Especially my memories about Luke, the boy I've spent my entire life with. My older twin brother. My Guardian.

I explained that as far as I could remember, I've been in the HQ of WICKED years before the first kid, Teresa, came. "Wait wait!" Aris interrupted, "So what? We're you two like the first experiments?"

Everyone stared as I whacked my brain for answers. "Something like- ugh... that" we all turned in surprise as Luke gained consciousness. Clint pushed him back down when Luke tried to stand, "Nope. You need to sit down and rest." Luke gave in eventually, his head turned to look at the Gladers.

His eyes found Lana first, their hands instinctively close in on each other. He notices Newt next; the boy is seated beside his sister and is giving him a possessive glare. Luke knows who he is, well, what that boy means to his sister. He searches the crowd for Brenda, but frowned when he couldn't find her or Thomas in the group.

He then turned to Jorge; Luke gave him a confused look as Jorge shook his head. They weren't here. Luke thought the worst, but shook his head. Brenda was a resourceful girl, plus, they had more than 1 way to leave the building. Knowing her, she'll guide Thomas to the mountain. Hopefully, they'll see each other on the way.

Aris spoke up again, "So, what did you mean by ' _Something like that_ '?" I had to look at Luke, a silent question if it was okay to tell them? He nodded.

I told them about a flashback that I had way back, the one where a man and I get caught by someone and is forcefully injected by a concentrated vile of the flare, the next flashback was one where I was on a medical bed in the laboratory. The man beside me was infected, and I don't remember why, but I wasn't. That's when the testing started,  
WCKD01 - The Light was me.  
WCKD02 - The Guardian was Luke.

Due to the circumstances of me being injected directly by the flare, I was the first to be experimented on, and then followed by Luke. After years of testing, Teresa came along, but she was called something else. I think I used to call her D.

Neither Luke nor I remember why we were at the HQ of WICKED as children. We were even there before the Flare came.

Newt stared at me, "What about the Rat man?" Luke and Jorge shared a look of confusion, "He means Janson." When we both try to remember Janson, all that pops out is a smiling face. I turn to Luke, "Do you know him?" Luke explains that he was a good and kindhearted man. "Kind hearted my ass" we heard Minho mumble.

He was someone that always watched over us. He cared for us like family. "If I were related to that shank, I'd stab myself." Zart commented then turned to me, "If he cared for you, how did the two of you end up in the Maze and the Scorch?"

I explained that something was happening inside WICKED, we decided to escape and help them reach the end of the trials. We betrayed WICKED, and we don't know why they're letting us live. "But because of us, we started the research for the cure, came the trials."

My frown deepened, "If not for me, you guys would've had normal lives outside of WICKED." Luke's hold on my hand tightened. "It's not your fault. We're all responsible for creating the Trials. Each and everyone here and in the maze, created a part of the trials."

Luke continued, "Like how you were in charge of the Maze Project, I was in charge of the Scorch Project. I don't remember much, but I know that not all of us are safe."

"Also, i don't think they'd have a nicer time if they stayed outside of WICKED. The world had turned into a cruel place, Hermana." All eyes turned to Jorge, "If you kids we're outside from the very beginning, I'd bet that you'd all be cranks right about now. And trust me,"  
His face turned grim "It's not a very good life to live." At first, we thought that he was talking by experience as a crank.  
But the longer I looked at him, the more i realized that he meant someone else. Someone he loved had turned into a crank, most likely, they turned into a Too far gone crank. The type of cranks that we fought before, the ones that act like zombies.

"Who was it?" Lana had asked before I could even stop her. Jorge's frown deepened, "My daughter. Maria was her name; she turned at the age of 10." Every single one of us couldn't help but feel bad for him, even though he was a crank, he had feelings too. A past that would haunt him forever.

Some others and I looked away, and stared into the fire instead. I tried to imagine what Maria looked like as Jorge described her with a loving voice.  
"She's beautiful girl." We heard Jace mumble, he probably tried imagining her too. We nodded in agreement; Jorge wiped his eyes to prevent us from seeing his tears.  
"She was my world. I lost her to the flare, and I lost her again to WICKED."

"Us?" Luke asked in disbelief, "Not you specifically, it was when WICKED ordered their soldiers to kill every Too far gone cranks in our town."  
"She attacked them. They knocked her down and shot her right in front of me..." he paused to think, "Then they threw me here in this hell hole. After a few years, i met Brenda."  
His gaze from the fire flickered to our faces, he cleared his throat and started making his way to the door, "Well, that's enough for today. Time to get some sleep, eh Hermano?"  
Minho nodded, "You heard him. There's a bunch of mattresses in that store over there. Take your stuff and let's transfer."

We followed Minho. No matter how many times Minho called Thomas the leader; we still believed that Minho deserved the title as well.  
"Oh, there's a gym beside that store. They have a shower room there with barrels filled with rain water from the frequent storms. Shower first before you head to bed." Jorge smiled as he heard the Gladers got excited.

I stayed back for a bit to help with Luke's things as Zart and Clint helped Luke to the other room. Newt was beside me, his face was unreadable, "You know... i was jealous," He said in a whisper, "I thought that maybe, just maybe, you loved him."

I stopped the smile that tried to appear, "Well, he's my brother, of course I love him... But," I leaned and whispered in his ear "I love you romantically."

Luke watched as his sister and Newt kiss. _You're being creepy._ He rolled his eyes, the _Luke_ before the scorch commented.

Jorge helped me to the gym and sat on one of the benches. They waited for the shower to start and the Gladers' voices echoed in the room. "STICKS! That's cold!" they heard Aris exclaimed followed by laughter.

"So," Jorge said in a low but chipper voice, "She looks happy." Luke nodded, a small smile on his lips, "That's all I ever need to see." Jorge shrugged and glanced at the boy, "Are we still following the plan?"

Luke shook his head, "We need to find Thomas first. Everything will fail if we don't have Thomas." Jorge stood up and nudged the boy with his leg, "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up as well" Most of the Gladers were halfway through when Jorge knocked, "We're coming!" he announced as he opened the door.

Lana and Newt were still in their little world when they heard the boys start to chat loudly. "When did you get this?" They heard Clint exclaim when they entered the gym. All the boys were shirtless, they were examining scars and wounds.

Clint was by Jace, who unlike the other boys, was naked, only being covered by a towel by his privates. "I guess it started to hurt a lot more by the storm." Clint looked at Jace dead in the eye, "Why didn't you tell me?! We could've had it treated by now!"

"It doesn't bother me." Jace stubbornly answered, Minho sighed and smacked Jace at the back of his head, "Well it bothers me, that rash is going to make you slow down." Jorge, who was by the door, noticed Lana and Newt.

They were clearly confused. Minho waved his hand, "Okay, before you shanks decide to be a martyr and not tell me about your injuries, I want you to all drop your pants!" It took everything to stop Jorge from bursting out laughing at the surprised faces of the new company.

"Please not in front of my sister." They heard Luke interrupt. All the boys turned to the door with wide eyes, some had to quickly pull back up their pants, Jace had to pull the towel closer to his body. Luckily, Newt had covered eyes as soon as he heard Minho told them to strip.

"Minho." Newt glared at the boy leader. Minho laughed nervously and said "Well you're not excused either, take a shower and join us." With a deadpan tone, Newt leaned closer to Lana, "Sorry but I'm straight, currently in a happy relationship with Lana, and not interested in your orgy."

Lana and Jorge finally broke out laughing. Lana turned around to face the outside of the gym and crouched down, holding her stomach in laughter. Jorge was banging his fist by the lockers, he couldn't breathe.

Luke was in a constant grin, he bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. The other gladers were the same, you could hear small giggles and chuckles every now and then. Minho's brow twitched, "Okay. That's how you want to play, huh?"

"Get him." As soon as Minho said that, Jorge pulled Lana away from Newt and the chaos. Alec and Frypan were the first ones to jump at Newt, pinning him down. "Lana, there's a girl's shower room, you should go ahead while we... _Examine_ your boyfriend's injuries."

Magnus handed her a towel and her bag, Aris gave her a push to hurry up as the boys proceeded to strip once more.

"Remind me to get back at Minho for that bloody stunt." Newt mumbled, his hair was dripping wet and was seated by one benches. I chuckled and grabbed a towel, "Let's wipe your hair before you get sick." The temperature continued to drop as the night came.

I stood behind him and proceeded to dry his hair, "How did it go?" I teased. He sighed, "We realized that we all had rashes by our... Ahem, in between our legs from all the running we did," Newt turned to me, "How about you? Do you have a rash as well?"

I shifted my stance, "I think so. It hurt when I was in the shower." Newt looked up, his almost dry hair was on my stomach, his eyes stared up at me, "Want me to check?"

I blushed and kissed the tip of his nose, "Nope." He chuckled and shrugged, "Worth a shot. Now, come here. I'll dry your hair next." We exchanged places, I could feel him gently drying my hair. "How's your leg?" I wondered.  
"Sore." He answered honestly. "Then sit, you don't need to wipe my hair." "I know, but I want to."

'He hasn't changed a bit.' Lana sounded happy. "Clint left the cream that we used for the rashes" Newt handed me a container, the label had worn off but no one really cared. "Turn around, I won't be able to put this if you're staring."  
Newt rolled his eyes and turned around.

In their new clothes, Lana and Newt decided to head to where the rest of the guys were.

It was a good thing that Clint had seen the rash by Jace's legs, it made others confess about theirs. Of course they all had rashes, cuts, and sun burns. Luke and Jorge weren't surprised, it was only natural that they would end up with injuries and aching bodies after running for so long.

The two of them stopped midway when they saw the Gladers bury themselves in the mattresses, pillows, and duvets that were on display.

It was a cold night, so the Gladers had a good excuse to use them. They just had a fresh shower, new clothes, newly bandaged injuries, a cold night, and a real bed to sleep in. "Now this is a bed!" Aris exclaimed as he flopped onto the bed. Magnus raised a brow, "Then what do you call the beds that we slept in at the building?"

"Prison beds. At least here, we can have our own beds!" That was true. But Neither Lana nor Newt thought about having separate beds.

Newt went over to Minho and Jorge to talk about the plans for the next day, Luke saw his sister and gestured outside "Lana, can we... Talk?"

 **Thaaaank you for reading today's chapter! I am so so so sorry that this took forever. I'm currently taking my internship and it's been taking up most of my time. I decided to bring my IPad and small keyboard to write this whenever I wasn't doing anything at work. I tried to make up for it by making this kinda long? I dunno...**  
 **I haven't event been able to write imagines in my tumblr :(**  
 **But anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I've been trying to flesh out the back story and the details for the next chapters.**

 **So here's a preview for the next one:**

Chapter 19 - "Siblings"

Both of us don't have our memories, but we are both drawn to each other, this stranger that we both claim each other as siblings. They know who I was, but at the same time, they don't know who I am. We struggle to reconnect with what's left of our scattered memories, my bother, my twin. It shouldn't be that hard... Right?


End file.
